Marriage of Convenience
by sweetsysy
Summary: Kurapika sign his signature on marriage paper. Next to him, Neon spins her pen and follows. They turned in their paper works. The objective of this marriage is clear : to reduce taxes from all the assets the family has and for him to move easier under Nostrade's family name. No blessings made and no announcement to close friends. And nobody knows what's actually on their mind.
1. Chapter 1

A/N : Special thanks to my friend, D, whom encourage me to write fiction, exploring the possibilities between characters. Kura-Neo has always been one of my favorite ship due to the nature of their possibilities based on their complex background and neutral relationship in the series. They always intertwine with each other indirectly despite having very little on-screen interaction. I decided it would be a shame to ignore such potential.

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**Marriage of Convenience**

**Chapter I**

Kurapika sign his signature on marriage paper. Next to him, Neon spins her pen and follows. They turned in their paper works. The objective of this marriage is clear : to reduce taxes from all the assets the family has and for him to move easier under Nostrade's family name. No blessings made and no announcement to close friends. And nobody knows what's actually on their mind. Only the bodyguards and mansion servants heard about the news.

Before marriage day, Melody has guessed, from Kurapika's side, it probably means that he will have more resources to use in order to gather his brethren's eyes. Finding "treasures", not to mention obtaining them, is not a cheap quest after all.

Tickled by curiosity and mild gossips around the mansion, Melody tried to guess if both Neon and Kurapika had something else in their heart or mind. But judging from their normal heartbeat, it's clear that they don't have any romantic feelings for each other.

Neon looks bored with all the paperwork and Kurapika just put on straight-faced expression. How did he come up with the plan anyway and how did he convince Neon? Several people has asked Melody, but it's a very easy question to answer. Since several months ago, Light and Kurapika have thought a lot about the taxes. Light also thought of methods for giving Kurapika more power under his name, considering he's his trusted worker whom can elevate his family name and wealth back to glorious day if he were given the access. Despite considering the idea as total nonsense at first, after considering the benefits, Kurapika actually agreed on that offer only if Neon agree to it too.

Neon on the other hand, has no power to refuse his father's request. Surprisingly she's quite a decent person in times of trouble, she agreed easily after Light presented several benefits that would promise her to live her extravagant lifestyle. Although some people raises a question whether she's actually a quite decent person or it's just a rich girl's trait to accept sham marriage as a part of their lifestyle.

"Congratulations on your marriage" the county clerk hands over the paperwork to them.

"Thank you." Kurapika answered calmly, taking the paper works and then checking them carefully. While Neon just stand quietly next to him, her eyes are focused on the swiped papers. The excitement they show made it clear that they're both marry for convenience. Surprisingly, there's no air of awkwardness between them. The county clerk concludes that's just how usually business marriage works. Two people gaining advantages from each other through legal paper works have no love between them, but comfort in finding each other trust able.

"Are you finished? Shall we pick my wedding dress now?" Neon ask excitedly after Kurapika tidily organized the paper works into a brown file.

"Yes. Let's go boss." Kurapika gives a slight mandatory smile. He does not bother trying to call her by her name. For him, this marriage wouldn't change any relationship between them. Although legally, she's no longer his employer now, but his wife. He just refuse to give more thoughts about that. The most important thing is he can reach his goal easier now.

Kurapika's phone rings several time while they are on their way to the Bridal Boutique, telling him that the wedding venue is ready. Although just a sham marriage, Light and him decided that a wedding party is crucial for the business partners to acknowledge him as the person in power under Nostrade name. Kurapika originally thought it's a bad idea, he imagined it would be awkward if she is all gloomy and bored during the event, but then Light confirms that she likes the idea of wedding dress and extravagant shoes therefore they can proceed with the idea. And judging from her excitement in the Bridal Boutique, his father in law was not lying.

Kurapika quickly changed into his custom-made tux, which looks a lot like his working attire, he does not look very different from how he looked before. He refused to wear anything fancy in this work-related wedding. So do the other bodyguards that's waiting for both of them in the Bridal Boutique.

"Are you ready for your wedding night?" Bashou asks him cheerfully in his well-suited tux. Clearly he's in a good mood.

"You know this marriage is for convenience." Kurapika answers calmly, suggesting that nothing's gonna happen between both of them.

Bashou laughed and joked that for convenience, he should make this marriage as official as it is. He just shrugged off the idea. He's not the type of a man whom will force himself on a girl that's not interested in him although such jokes did give him wrong ideas... which he also shrug off immediately.

From the corner of his eyes, he can see Neon and her servants swings in excitement admiring the quality of her couture wedding dress. Her ballgown wedding dress exposes her back which he can't help to stare for several seconds before Melody calls him back to reality.

"Kurapika, are you sure this will not lead trouble?" Sensed a difference in his heartbeats just for now, Melody is intrigued to get his opinion.

"I don't see any disadvantage in this." He answered, his tone is full of suspicion regarding Melody's question.

"Hmm." Melody lets his answer pass. She actually wants to tease her young friend but they are tight on time and should go to the venue right away.

The venue is full of people that Neon doesn't know. She does recognize some of them as her former clients but that's all. Classical music is playing and the chocolate fountains are grandeous. She suppose in this kind of event at least she should fake a smile, but she does not have any interest when pitted in such social pressure. She can feel the ill-feeling her former clients has for her once she lost her ability. Truly unpleasant scene. Probably even for a gown and shoes, this event is not worth the pressure. She glanced at her supposed to be husband, and immediately tell that he feels the same way. He is after all, that bodyguard of her whom rarely smile.

"Boss, do you mind wrapping your hand around my arm?" Kurapika asks. Praying in his heart this question does not make him sounds like a creep. But it was unavoidable. Otherwise it will be even more awkward if they walk together as strangers. They have to look like a couple for show.

Neon casually wraps her hand around his arm. She has no doubt that Kurapika does not have any hidden intention over her. He's always just kind of always there and made her life easier. His presence always give her some sort of comfort. She's actually _glad _that he was offered to be her husband rather than other random guy she doesn't even know.

It was the first time they become so close physically. He can feel his head doubting his own integrity when he feels her hand touching his arm. His heart thumps to the point of wondering why he agreed to it in the first place. Doubting his own feeling whether he's in love or it's just a moment of infatuation since he never had a girl wrap her hand around his arm before. He reminds himself that this is merely paper works. He also didn't sign up to be a murderer when he was forced to kill Phantom Troupe member in order to achieve his goals. What's the difference? One is a murder and another is a sham marriage which he can terminate later if necessary. Although he couldn't see himself doing that. _Why would he? _He wondered to himself. The walk to wedding venue is short and they mingle into crowd after that.

Guests are congratulating Light with flat tone. They can judge from the modesty of the wedding, this is merely a marriage of convenience. Not to mention all the guests are business partners. No one is really surprised judging on how many times Kurapika has represented Nostrade family. Some guests are whispering they are very lucky, at least both of them are good-looking and young.

It doesn't take long before Neon got bored and escaped the scene. Kurapika followed her naturally, as both bodyguard and her supposed-to-be husband. What's the point of hanging there by himself? As long as the guests have recognized this wedding, the deeds have been done.

The first-class suite is huge and luxurious. It is in the same building as the wedding venue. and there is only both of them. The suite is gifted for the newlyweds after all. At first he wondered why Light bothered to book the room. This is not necessary since they are not a real couple. Kurapika guessed Light just gave him a priveledge. Whatever his son-in-law wants to have out of this wedding, it will be up to him. He sighs in disbelief, that old man sells her to him. Understanding the subtlety disturbs him, they both are men after all. Yet, it feels so wrong to take advantage of a poor girl whom was sold for her ability half her life. She's actually a nice person too, just a little too childish. Fortunately, she act like a normal person when shopping is not involved.

He was thinking of leaving the room just now. But the crowd earlier was giving him headache that he only have the energy to sit quietly on the side of the bed, taking off the tux and leaving only his white shirt on. Neon is surfing through television in the middle of the bed with her white wedding dress. The silence is filled with the back sound from TV before Neon glances to him and offers him the television remote.

"Kurapika. Do you want to surf the TV?"

Finding another excuse for him to stay a little bit longer, he sits next to her while surfing through some channels.

"Look! They're married like us!" She commented cheerfully when he clicks on a movie channel. The scene is set as outdoor wedding, filled with pop music, adorable guests in cute outfits and flowers decoration. Complete opposite of their wedding just now which only lasted around a hour before they escaped to the suite.

"I actually think our wedding would be fun if only our guests weren't so scary." she makes a playful comment he actually agree with, giving him small chuckle. The scene actually reminds him of his close friends. Unfortunately, inviting them to this marriage of convenience just simply didn't cross his mind.

The movie turns awkward when they showed a steamy scene between the married couple after that. So awkward that Kurapika turned off the television out of reflect. He glances at his supposed to be wife whom is looking at him. He expected her to laugh at the scene and give him the sign to leave by calling Eliza or something, just to find her asking him a weird question.

"Why did you turn it off?" she asks innocently.

"I'm sorry. I didn't know you are interested in the movie."

She gives him a long pause, an interrogating look into his eyes while leaning slightly closer to him. Long enough for him to feel heat in his face before she finish her question.

"Is that what we're supposed to do as married couple?"

Kurapika should've sprinted out of the room to escape from puzzles in his mind, yet he couldn't give up the temptation which is triggered by having Neon next to him, gazing into his eyes. Just two of them. A bride in wedding dress whom he could claim as his. It was _inviting_. Whatever he's feeling for her, it is a split-second decision for him to lean closer and kiss her. Before they realize it, he already pinned her down to the bed while they're kissing roughly.

Both their hearts beat faster. He's trying to find consciousness in this madness but he just couldn't stop. Unconsciously replaying her role in his life to discover who she is in his life. From failing to guard her from Phantom Rouge and her bid on scarlet eyes. His blood boiled even more to remember that the woman in his embrace is one of the causes why his people was massacred. His feeling suddenly spiralled down from adoration to anger. The same woman he has to guard is the same person whom disregard other people's life for hobby. Evil thoughts crossed his mind to make her taste her own medicine. To make her realize how does it feel when her feelings are disregarded for other people's satisfaction.

Only when she resisted his kiss, he could come to his senses. As if he just jumped to cold water, seeing his handprints on her shoulder and wrist overthrow him to guilty feeling. Her blue hair which was made into cross-sectional braid has became messy. He became frightened of himself. Wondering what just posessed him to get him where he is now.

"I should leave now." Kurapika breaks the silence and get off her. Leaving the room without bothering to fix his shirt.

Neon, still not sure of what just happened just freeze in fear and confusion.


	2. Chapter 2

What just happened? Neon muttered to herself while touching her lip, then feels the pain on her shoulder. _It hurts._ She thought to herself.

She can hear her heartbeat thumping loud within the silence of the room.

Never once she imagined that she would ever experience such kiss in her whole life. She's trying hard to find the correct phrase but fails to do so. It was indeed passionate yet violent. She has often heard the phrase "kiss", "making out", or whatever it is called from the movie. But none of them could apply to their situation earlier. She wasn't even sure if he initiated that out of love. What are the possibilities? All these times, she never felt love from him. Just friendliness and comfortable silence. That's why they agreed to this sham marriage at the first place, right? Isn't that what's on his mind as well? Because they don't harbor any feelings for each other.

She couldn't help breaking out in cold sweat. Was it her fault giving him such question? Probably one of the magazine that she read was right. "Never seduce a boy when you're not ready." Now she feels ridiculous. She wouldn't say she's not ready for just a kiss. She did kissed him back! She's 17! And has always imagined if she get married one day, she'll receive a kiss or two. It's just how the movie depicts it! It's normal! Whether it's Kurapika, or some other guys, it's just how it's supposed to be, right? On top of that, she wasn't trying to seduce him too. They were just caught up in a moment.

The only problem is it wasn't just a kiss. It was, at first, then it turned into something else. Neon glanced to the bruise on her wrist. She did picture a fake marriage with Kurapika when his father proposed the idea. He's strong, reliable, and good looking. Better than any random guy she doesn't know. And he'll probably give her a mandatory kiss on her cheek or lip for picture's sake. She imagined it would be light and formal. Yet, it was lustful and hateful.

Now she's not sure what to do. Should she call Eliza? or Bashou? or her father? She's rarely alone in a room afterall. It's only normal to call Eliza like usual, but the fear in her heart hasn't subsided. She can only ruminate. She couldn't deny a little curiousity about Kurapika. Realistically, for her, he was just like a brother for her because they have been too comfortable with each other. But now she is not so sure how she would sees him.

What was in his mind? What's his feeling? She sighs. She always refuses to get involved in others' business and that will not change now. Living in her own bubble has been a staple lifestyle for her. It's too comfortable.

In the end, she refused to think further and decided to call Eliza to accompany her. Luckily the night isn't too late for Eliza and the servants to throw some complaints.

How surprised she is to find the state her mistress is in. Messy with minor bruises and hickeys on her neck. If someone else see her in the state she's in right now, they would have a misunderstanding. Or is it not a misunderstanding?

"What happened to you, Miss Neon?" Eliza asks in shaky voice. As an adult, she would've just guessed that the certain young man they know might have an unusual fetish, although no one expect they would consummate their marriage. But Neon looks worrying with her bruises and her supposed to be husband not here with her.

Other servants have the similar thoughts as they glance at each other with different impressions. One is amazed, another is as worried as Eliza.

Unsure how to answer the question since Neon herself wasn't sure of what happened, she just asks her servants to undress her complicated wedding dress lace to take a bath then go to sleep.

Neon thought she would forget what happened when the sun rises. And she did forget it for a while.

Woke up to breakfast platter, enjoying the most comfortable morning bubble bath. Having her servants do her hair. A slight inconvenience does not bother her at all. She dresses in a white short dress, which she plan to layer later. Spreading out her outerwears on bed for comparison, everything feels normal until she receives a familiar guest.

She is not sure what to feel when she is faced with her blonde-haired bodyguard. Somehow she can't look into his eyes anymore and the comfort they both had before is no longer present.

Kurapika does not bother explaining anything to Eliza. But even with no request given, Eliza and the other servants had intuitively left the room upon his visit, giving the fake newlyweds their private moment. His black suit contrasted her white short dress in earth-tone room.

There was a pause before he took a seat next to her on the same bed they made out before. Her eyes widen a little and she prays flush is not shown on her cheek when he took her hand softly to his lap.

"Are you alright?"

His tone is so much tender than how he usually speaks. She would totally be head over heels for him if only she doesn't have to think too much of the answer since she definitely is not alright. How does she answer that? If this were a normal situation, she would've complained non-stop and get mad. But she just can't do it now. She is too flustered.

Kurapika wants to roll his eyes out hearing his own question. Stupid question. He hates stupid question. Even without the silent response Neon gave to him, he already knows the answer. He just couldn't find any other way to show her that he's concerned.

Facing her is a very difficult action to take. Catching glimpse of hickeys on her neck and small bruise on her shoulder makes him feels ashamed of himself. He wondered where did his will of steel go last night? And how could he went so far? He doesn't feel like he has a good excuse when apologizing. The worst part is admitting that he enjoyed it and even tempted to do it again now. He averts his eyes to the floor in order to bury the thoughts.

"I am not alright!" She finally answers

"Look, my shoulder hurts." The lightness in her tone makes it almost like it's the usual days, when nothing has happened.

"I apologize. I didn't know what came over me."

He hopes that this explanation would makes sense to her "It was my fault. I couldn't help desiring you-"

A pause before he finishes his apology.

"-too much."

Neon pulls her hand away and push him to the bed slowly, where he complies.

It is now her turn to grasp on his shoulder "What am I to you?"

Her soft blue hair tickles his neck. She asks him a question he longs to answer himself. _What is she to him? _He has spent his night wondering, wailing in guilt. What bases pleasure built on guilt? He is not a crude person, never care enough to care. His life is not suited for having normal life, having a family his parents had. His goal will always be a priority, putting that aside will kill him with his eyes open. That's the reason why he never develop any crushes and fall in love. Never once in his life and he never cares about it.

But he cares for her and the closest answer he had was love. The fact that he considers her feeling too much is the sign of it. Much like Gon, Killua, and Leorio, he wishes her to be safe even outside the job. That's the definition of love he understand. He already get over resentment he felt for her in the back of his mind too when he studies her life. He just couldn't understand the temptation he got when he got the chance to take advantage of her.

"Don't answer that." She caresess his cheek gently.

He just feels like a fool when they lock lips once again. Somehow he couldn't to keep the words he made to himself. But she initiates the kiss and it frees him from guilt.

Her kiss is an acceptance to his apology and he feels grateful to her for that. It feels like the opposite of what they had last night. Gentle and calm. His heart is tickled to discover the same question she had for him earlier. What is he to her?

In this moment they realize that they know very little of each other. And for once, both of them wish that they marry not just for convenience.

They wish they love each other. They wish they know if they love each other. Unfortunately, the fact that they are still unsure of their own feelings are the gap they're unwilling to cross.

Triggered from a little fear and uncertainty, Neon pulls away.

Noticing the motive of her withrawal, Kurapika decides to wrap his mind for her to understand.

He clears his throat and speaks to her in clear tone "Neon, I don't wish to take advantage of you when you don't desire it."

"I have something to do. I'll see you in several months." He conveys his farewell.

Neon feels sudden pain in her heart knowing that she won't see him for another months. Just now he called her by her name, then he has to leave immediately. A feeling she never felt before. Even so, she's grateful she doesn't have to face her own feeling and curiousity. She is not ready to discover his answer whether his answer will satisfy her or not. People only hear what they're prepared to hear.

_No..._ She thought to herself. It is her who is not ready to admit her own feelings. She would rather keep their relationship hanging because even until the end, she couldn't save herself from her own ignorance.

"See you again then." is the last thing he hear from her before he left the room.


	3. Chapter 3

Kurapika takes off his dark brown contact lens in frustation. Dealing with underground people and facing a lot of deals which does not align with his mindset never fails to upset him.

Fast living in the cities and having his way through injustice was never the experience he imagined to have back when he was still a little child in his village. So many tasks to do, so little time. At least this keeps him focused to achieve his goal, he speaks to himself.

He was about to sleep when a hotel staff rings his room bell and hand him a brown envelope. Signed Light Nostrade. It was a set of divorce template papers with a printed note.

"Kurapika,

you have married my daughter legally and now all our business partners have officially recognized you as the leader of Nostrade clan. I would be thankful if you wish to stay permanently to be a part of the family. If not, I want you to give you freedom in your personal life to pursue any woman of your interest and we can still be business partner if you keep your marriage annulment with Neon a secret. Whether you're married to her or not, I have considered you as my own son. Just inform me if you have taken your decision."

The letter feels funny to him for several reasons. Kurapika has guessed that, just like Neon, he is just a tool for Light Nostrade to sustain his power and lifestyle.

Now what? This old man is making him confused. He mutters to himself, can't help to feel upset. What kind of newlyweds that get a marriage annulment less than a week from their wedding? Even for a sham marriage, he thinks this idea is ridiculous.

He starts to remember the recent events involving Neon in his life. It's been almost a week since they last meet in their bridal suite.

She never tried contacting him ever since. It's not like she ever tried to contact him when he was not present around her, even before their marriage. It shouldn't bug him, but he feels annoyed. Kurapika is aware of Neon's emotional detachment and ignorance before, it's a part of her quirk. But this time, it's maddening him. They are married, yet they are stranger to each other. He always thinks that having a girlfriend or get married before his goal is achieved is a waste of time. But somehow questioning her feeling become a part of his routine ever since that day. He puts back the letter and throws the brown envelope on the desk, calling it a day.

It was early in the morning when he woke up and grabbed a white shirt from his suitcase after a refreshing shower.

A casual sport t-shirt was accidentally pulled.

It's hard not to notice how nice Neon is to him. She would take him to shopping malls, amusement parks, casinos, archery field, offered him to enjoy his time and join her activities. Forced him to keep the casual clothes she thought would look good on him, including that t-shirt. She is actually a really nice person, despite the twist in her interest.

He sighs. A marriage annulment is a bad idea for both of them. He looked through several marriage candidates for Neon before, and none of them is a good choice for her. Old politician, son of another mafia, middle-aged businessman, those are people whom will take several mistresses and disregard Neon as a person. How could he let her marry any of those people? It's not even a good deal for him, because then, a stranger will have unnecessary influence over Nostrade family. No matter how he look at it, this marriage of convenience is a win-win situation for both of them.

Unsure of how Neon feel about this, it does not feel appropriate not to inform her. He could make the decision without asking her, but that just goes against his conscience. He makes a call to the mansion and decides to pay her a sudden visit after checking his schedule.

The sun starts to set when Neon is informed that she receives a certain guest.

"Kurapika. Why are you here?" She asks in excitement, didn't expect to see him again this soon. He always looks dashingly handsome in black suit as he approaches her.

"Eliza, will you give us a moment?" Kurapika asks politely to her servants before answering her question. He closes the door after the servants has left Neon's room.

They both stand near the closed door and exchange glances. He is glad he has an excuse to visit her.

"Your father offered us a marriage annulment."

"Huh?"

"But I subjected it."

"Why all these though?"

"Boss, your place is with me." He cuts to the chase.

"Another reason is because I did not approve of another marriage candidates you had. If we get a divorce, you'll have to marry one of them. They will make a bad husband."

"And you are a good husband because?" Neon understand the other circumstance but tickled to puzzle his statement.

"I will keep you safe." his immediate but firm answer makes her blush immediately.

"Hmp, how could you say that. You left me a day after we got married. If you were a good husband, you could've stayed!" Neon pouts, denying his statement.

"You know I had several meetings to do accompanying your father."

"See, now you're starting to act like papa. Claiming he will always be there for me but he never does. Not to mention that you're here, but I don't even see him."

"Your father is busy. I can confirm he is in the city for business."

"It's only this week, right? How about last week, last month, and another last two months?"

"There are several conditions where I couldn't barge in with his personal life."

"It's the same with you, right, Kurapika?"

"What do you mean?"

"You don't consider our marriage is genuine. Do you?" The blue haired girl asks shyly.

"The fact that I subjected the marriage annulment has proven my genuinity."

"And not just a means to whatever your purpose is?"

Sometimes he forgets that she is a Nen Genius and brighter than she seems at times.

"See, that's all you care, you are just like papa afterall." she continues.

He feels his blood boils but try to keep his calm. A bit offended by the truth of prioritizing his goal, he also put a lot of thoughts for her situation. Must he list everything he has done for her? He was able to keep composed no matter what tantrum she threw when he first worked there. Unfortunately, as time goes by and he gets to know her better, his patience eroded this time.

"Neon. I am not giving you freedom to decide whether you want to keep this marriage or not." Kurapika made the decision.

"If you don't trust me to be your husband and are suspicious of my motive, please tell me what you would like me to do in order to erase your doubt."

Neon is surprised to hear his swift conclusion. Now she doesn't get to choose? How unfair! What a control-freak! But then, why is she feeling ecstatic to hear that he wants to be with her. Contradiction in her heart makes she feels anxious.

"How can you decide all that? I don't even know what I am to you." She looks away.

Her reaction makes him furious. She wants to know what she is to him? Last time he remembered, she asked the same question but refused to get any answer. Now they're back at this again. He takes a step closer to where she stands. So close they can hear each other's hearbeats.

"If I give you my honest answer, then you would subject to the marriage annulment?" He looks into her eyes in intimidating manner, compelling her to take a step back.

Before she could avert her eyes, he softly brushes her chin to his direction, preventing her from looking away. He hasn't got all day and this time, he's determined to make her understand ,"But this time, you must receive the answer."


	4. Chapter 4

A/U : Thank you for the comments! So happy to find people who are on the same page with this ship!

I made minor corrections for the previous chapter(Chapter 3) and I will keep correcting every chapters as this title progresses if I spot any mistakes.

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"I care about you." He let go of his finger on her chin when he had caught her full attention.

She is puzzled. What does that mean? She was expecting a more dramatic statement. She just doesn't expect that after all the troubles coming all the way to the mansion, he just come to say that he cares.

"I don't understand."

"I have given you my answer."

Neon glances quickly at him "You told me you desire me." she paused before continuing her question "Why do you change your answer now?"

Kurapika is not surprised. Since the beginning, he always has little expectation to her emotional understanding. "It is not wrong but the reason why I insist on keeping this marriage is not merely by desire." he continues ,"That will be our final decision, then?"

Neon couldn't help but feel annoyed. Now he's all professional and distant again.

"I never agreed to it! Even if you care for me, I still don't believe it!"

"Fine then if you don't believe that I care for you. What will make you do?"

She puts her hands on her hip while slightly tilting her head, expressing her misunderstanding.

"Kurapika you misunderstood something." she squints ,"I care about you too. I said I just don't believe that you will make a good husband."

For once, he is surprised by her answer.

"Pardon?"

"You came here all the way just to inform me about my father's marriage annulment offer. He didn't even tell me anything. In fact, he barely spoke to me since I lost my ghostwriter." said Neon; and then sharply ,"My opinion doesn't mean anything now."

"Which part do you not understand then?" he verifies her statement after taking conclusion that she understand her position. And despite her disbelief, she understand that he cares about her.

"How could you come and say that you care about me like nothing has happened." she addresses her concern, "I thought I couldn't see you for the next several months, so I tried to forget about you. But then you came all the way here just to say that you care."

"So, do you like me or not?' Neon asked to him, with a doubtful tone that testified to her curiousity; and indeed, when she had so suddenly raised the note of her frustation, they wait for the silence to break with faces of dreadful expectation.

"What do you expect me to answer? Are you confusing my feeling with your own?" he returned the question, addressing his own interest, "My answer has always been obvious. I am not supposed to be here, but here I am. Yet, you already keep me out of your mind although you just claimed to care about me." And then he lowers his tone, having immediate regret for starting a debate with her.

"Forgive me, that was unneccessary." he added rather sulkily; and then, with another voice ,"I desire and care for you means I like you, Neon. I hope you will give me a chance to prove that we're worthy of marriage."

Neon feels nervous at this moment of decision, ecstatic feeling from her excitement is mixed with uncertainty; Kurapika has made clear of his feeling, she supposes that she too, must admit her adoration to him. But she recollected her courage to express her doubt regarding his request "I only can be sure if you let me accompany you for the next month to come." she continues ,"We rarely spend time together, afterall."

He doesn't feel like it's a good idea. There is a reason why as the head bodyguard, he advises Light Nostrade to always keep her home; and that is the dangerous nature of mafia business. And frankly, he is a little paranoid after realizing it was Chrollo whom stole her power and knocked her out. Even without her power, she is still an heiress to Nostrade wealth legacy. But the thought of spending more time together is something he agrees with. And after such speech he gave her, it would be ungentlemanly to refuse her request.

"Give me some time to arrange some stuffs, then." he affirmed her request.

"Yay!" Neon cheers happily.

"If you'll excuse me, I have to go now." he smiles slightly then looks at his watch.

"So soon?"

"Of course. Our deal has been made anyway." answers Kurapika while heading toward the door; "And I am eager to prove that I am the right person for you, so you can be mine." he added with a simper, leaving her in delight.

The whole event has made Neon doubted her own belief. She never expected that being involved with others emotionally could bring her such positive emotion. And surprisingly, sparing some space in her thoughts for him is something she deliberately do. Before this, she would turn a blind eye on other people, except Eliza, her favorite handmaid. Not even thoughtful and patient Dalzollene concerned her. Now, she starts to regret Dalzollene's death, although it's a bit too late to grieve. And after several days, her phone vibrates, breaking through her thoughts. The caller is someone she couldn't keep her mind off.

"Hello Kurapika."

"Hello Boss. I was wondering, have you ever been to school before?" the voice over the phone asks straightforwardly.

"Don't call me that! Of course I have been to school, it's a long time ago."

"Okay. That's surprising. I thought you're homeschooled all your life." he made innocent remark which makes her beam with surprise, discovering that he is such a blunt person.

"How rude! Why do you ask?"

"One month is a long time. I suppose you will be bored if you don't have anything to do. I think it's a good idea to enroll you to a short class in the city. I will feel safe as well if I can introduce my friend so he can keep an eye on you."

"Your friend?"

"His name is Leorio. He's currently enrolled in the Faculty of Medicine and will be taking the short class with you. Meanwhile I have something to get from a professor in the same university."

"Something to get?"

"It's your favorite collection."

"Don't tell me..." she gasps.

"The scarlet eyes."


	5. Chapter 5

Kurapika ends the call. At first, he was excited that he finally has the chance to call her, but after being reminded of the scarlet eyes, he just couldn't handle the bitterness. It feels so tiring to be pinned in contrasting feelings. One minute he could miss her soft-skin, sweet-smelling, luscious lip, then another minute he could loathe the very same apathetic girl he just called. Especially when she's shown excitement in obtaining the treasure that belongs to him, his people. _She doesn't know,_ he reminds himself although it fails to calm his anger. That specific trait of her is just plain disgusting to him, as disgusted he is to himself when the thoughts of her still arouses him when he's feeling repulsed of her behavior. In the end, he still wants her to be safe and the plan must be carried on.

The private planes has arrived to the specified country, from the north of Yorknew. The schedule is very tight, Kurapika has asked the chaiffeur to drive Neon, Eliza, and her other servants to a well-renowned university, an ivy league medical school.

"What do you mean you're married!?" Leorio shouts angrily to Kurapika, emphasizing his surprised reaction. So loud that everyone around turn their heads. Furious that an old friend that disappear for quite a long time suddenly come with an unexpected news and has a favour to ask.

"Keep your voice low, shouting is embarassing." Kurapika makes no remark of Leorio's surprised motive.

"I mean since when you had a girlfriend!?"

"And why didn't you invite me, Gon, and Killua? You bastard!" Leorio continues in excitement

"I didn't. This marriage was for convenience and she's my boss." Kurapika answers firmly.

"Ergh! Your boss?" Leorio is even more surprised by his answer.

"Yes. She's a flesh collector." Kurapika emphasizes.

"The professor that teaches the philosophy course here owns a pair of the scarlet eyes. A renowned and busy professor wouldn't accept random call, therefore it would be useful to make the initial contact through his class." he explains ,"It would be very helpful to me if you could befriend her while keeping an eyes on her. She's an important figure and being her bodyguard is still my job. I want to hire you as her guard while she's in the university while I make contact with the professor. This job wouldn't be difficult because she will be accompanied by her other bodyguard and servants while you will act in covert, I will introduce you as my friend and that's all she will know. The period would be around 2 weeks. Do you want to take this offer?"

Leorio is at loss for words hearing the explanation. First of all, he wouldn't even need to be hired if he's asked to keep an eye of a friend's wife safety, but hearing the fact that she's a flesh collector paints her as in antagonistic light in Leorio's mind. The second is the fact that Kurapika marries a flesh collector, people that he said he would arrest when they took the hunter examination together.

"What in the world has happened?!" he exclaims ,"I knew you said that you were willing to throw your dignity away, but to act this far-" Leorio's exclamation was cut when Kurapika's phone rings and he gives a sign to keep quiet.

"Sure, wait for me at the front gate." Kurapika answered to the call. Apparently their awaited guest has arrived and Leorio moves to the meeting point nervously, not sure if he can act nice after hearing such facts. "Kurapikaa! How am I supposed to act?" he whispers, only to be answered by a glance he couldn't decipher.

The front gate of university consists of a enormous victorian gate with green-field park covered with pine trees and students spending their time relaxing or reading a book, each pine tree is marked with a specific small wooden decoration with bench, making it a perfect place for a meeting point.

Leorio is awed when Kurapika greets a blue-haired girl with dark blue coat and long skirt accompanied by three women in Jappon traditional clothes which reminds him of another old friend, Hanzo.

"Neon, this is Leorio, he's an old friend and medical student here."

"And Leorio, meet Neon, my wife." Kurapika's introduction calls him back to reality.

"Nice to meet you Leorio!" the blue-haired girl greets in a very friendly manner.

"Nice to meet you Neon..." Leorio responds awkwardly. He didn't expect that the flesh collector would look innocently pretty. Before this moment, he imagined that the woman would have a cruel-look to her and antagonistic in convenient manner. Yet, the girl standing before him is a friendly young woman with round blue eyes, lush eyelashes, and symmetrical pretty face that is hard not to notice.

"I heard this university has a body-parts museum. Is that true?" she asks

"Um. Yeah, it's at the right wing of this campus. Mostly visited by medical and philosophy students."

"How exciting!" she reacts delightfully ,"Kurapika, can I visit them?"

"Sure." he answers shortly, then continues as he glances to Leorio to start his act ,"Neon likes to collect body parts." he adds a comment as a compliance to her request.

"Wow, what an exciting hobby." Leorio acts in shaky tone. Completely unimpressed. Yet, Neon doesn't seem to care.

"My favorite collection is the scarlet eyes." she drops a bomb-ass comment that sends Leorio to a very shocked state followed by his meaningful glance to Kurapika, whom surprisingly is calm, even though his clenched eyebrow has expressed his anger. He had guessed that's one of the reasons Kurapika always wear his eye-contact when he's on the job.

As he is introduced to her other female bodyguard and servants, Leorio couldn't help to be curious and observe the young, supposed-to-be fake couple. Even after such ominous conversation, they seem to be in good terms enough to have quite a long small talk and a very close physical distant between them. It doesn't take him a long time to ask questions after Neon and the others ask to part ways to take a stroll around the building, while Leorio and Kurapika take a stroll around the gate.

"Are you fucking crazy? That girl collects your brother and sister's eyes."

"I know."

"And you marry her?"

"She told you that her favorite collection is the scarlet eyes, didn't she. I need resource to reach my goal."

Leorio sighs ,"I refuse the offer then."

"That's fine, I'll hire other person then." Kurapika answers as he reach the phone is his pocket, tickling Leorio's curiosity. "Wait,wait. I change my mind." he swiftly says ,"I'll take the offer, but don't consider this a job."

"I can't do that. This is a professional request."

"Pay me after the job's been done then, so drop the formality." he sighs ,"What will you do after you get the eyes from the renowned professor?"

"I'll let her keep them for now."

"You don't plan to arrest her sooner or later, right?" Leorio guesses, only god knows whatever plan his friend has in mind.

"No." he answers shortly, shifting the topic ,"What about you? How you've been?"

"I'm great, can't wait to be a doctor. It's been long since we last meet and now I'm admitted to the medical school, I'll do my best here." Leorio smiles smugly ,"Too bad I'm too busy to get a girlfriend!" he carefully adds ,"I wish I can get a cute wife like you. Do you like her although she has despicable hobby?"

Kurapika stops his step before answering ,"Yes. Why?". He gave much thought to that question before, he knew that along with the decision he made, eventually someone would ask that to him, whether it's Melody, Linssen, or Leorio. There's no point in lying. Although when it is not necessary, he had no plan to even bring up Neon in any conversation or any other parts of his life. The reason is as simple as Leorio's reaction.

"YOU WHAT!?" Leorio laughs playfully to that answer ,"Resource isn't the only benefit you get from the marriage, huh?" he teases Kurapika. Trying hard not to think too much of the irony that his friend would be_ "hate-banging a flesh collector because she's hot"_. At least that's what Leorio thought.

"It's none of your business." he boldly answers, refusing to expose anymore of whatever relationship he have with Neon. He is still downright ashamed of himself that he couldn't get over Neon's repulsive hobby, yet still desiring her. His conscience only gives him two option : get over her repulsive hobby to desire her, or : don't get over her repulsive hobby to not desire her. But throw in power, lust and acquaintanceship, life isn't that simple. Especially when it's not 24 to 7 that he's reminded that Neon loves scarlet eyes. There are times when he just see her as a girl. But that day is not today.

They would spend a short evening in the university before Leorio goes back to his dormitory and the rest of them to the penthouse under Nostrade name. The setting is far from romantic when Neon and her companion lives in the penthouse while Kurapika rent another suite in the same building. He has a lot things to be done beside his scarlet eyes quest and spending time with his supposed-to-be wife. He just couldn't share the room he uses for work with her to save himself some headaches and it appears that she feels the same way about her privacy.

"Wow, this room is nice!" Neon observes the beautiful city view from Kurapika's room. There's only two of them as the others are not allowed to enter his room and would ethically give them space together due to their marital status.

"Your room would be much nicer. It's on the higher floor." he stands slightly behind her, admiring the window view.

"Will you visit later?"

"I would, but your room will be very crowded. Why don't you stay here longer?"

"That makes sense. I will postpone my poker game with Eliza for tomorrow." she answers while texting her favorite servant ,"The university has really good views as well! Too bad the museum was already closed though!"

"Don't worry, tomorrow I will ask Leorio to accompany you there."

"Did you meet Leorio at school?"

"No. I met him at the hunter exam actually. He told me he wanted to become a doctor." he pauses ,"Do you know about hunter exam?"

"I've only heard about it. Come to think about it, you're a hunter too, right? Why did you become a hunter?"

Kurapika pondered for a moment, there's no way he answers that he became a hunter to collect scarlet eyes and arrest people like her. "Kind of. Being a hunter makes it easier to... travel the world." he throws a white lie, feeling thankful that he's following millennial trend from the news.

"Travel the world? You didn't want to become a doctor like Leorio or heal people?" Neon asks innocently, but Kurapika is stunned by her question, he's being reminded of something he has forgotten long time ago ,"You're right." he contemplated ,"At the beginning, it was my intention. To find people like him." _to cure Pairo._ he adds to himself.

"That's great. You reached your goal!" she responds cheerfully, not realizing how ironic that sounds to Kurapika. But he's content rather than mad, the night feels serene and they both wish the moment would last forever. "What about you? How was your exams when you were in school?"

"Oh I hated it." Neon answers ,"Those were too boring! I remember I would pretend to had a stomachache and Papa bought it!". It is the first time they laughed together. They really miss this moment. After whirlwind of emotions, it feels so great to be reminded the reason they proceeded with marriage decision, that they're relaxed with each other. After one and two jokes, suddenly the night is already late and he had to escort her to her room.

"I'll go back now."

"Wait!" she grabs his arm, stopping him from leaving. He does not really appreciate her touching him while he hasn't fulfill his resolution to resolve his conflicting desires for her, that would send his thoughts running wild where it isn't appropriate. "What's wrong?"

"Thank you for bringing me here. I like the city." she expresses her gratitude.

"Anytime." he responds, the intimacy of the moment appealed him to tease her a bit ,"So you believe that we're worthy of marriage now?" and she answers jokingly ,"Maybe when you bring me the scarlet eyes."

Unintentionally, her jokes turns the table on his emotion. He quickly grabs her hip to his embrace, leaving them no space. His other arm caresses her cheek, ear, and neck. Locking her gaze to his direction. The strong grip on her hip and neck send chills down her spine.

"If I bring you the scarlet eyes, swear that you'll never refuse me."


	6. Chapter 6

Looking back into his burning gaze behind his dark brown-coloured lens, she felt unspoken anger directed to her for reason she couldn't understand. She knew by then that she had said something that provokes his aggression. "Kurapika... I didn't mean it"." Neon mutters in frustration, she hates feeling cornered and guilty. But instead of trying to let go of his arms around her waist, she hugged him tightly, burying her face in his neck "I'm sorry." she said in confusion.

It took him several seconds to hug her back, much to her surprise. Tilting his head to scent her while slowly runs his fingers through her hair, intensifying the sensations. With every passing second, it gets more excruciating. He realized he can never be honest to Neon and it would be unfair to expect her to understand. Probably he had just been ridiculous, or simply grown impatience to be with her.

"Good night." He looks at her as he loosen his hug, resting his hand on her waist. She replies with a gentle stroke on his cheek.

"Good night too."

After their goodnights, Neon couldn't get much sleep. Her heart was pounding, she can still feel his warmth and strong arms around her. There's a lot more important matters to be questioned but she just can't shut her mind to stop thinking about his embrace. When she woke up, it's noon already and she has to prepare for her class quickly.

"Hey, do you wanna join my online poker server?" Neon whispers to Leorio whom is sitting next to her.

"What!?" His eyes reverts to Neon and then back to the huge whiteboard in the class.

"Okay, it's really fun!" she adds.

Leorio is baffled to see his new classmate ignore the class after listening to five minutes of lecture to play online poker. The class they're taking is about theology and empathy. For Leorio, it is less challenging than his usual subjects. Usually, he would be memorizing complex organ system or doing autopsy on a Jane Doe as a study. But it is not an excuse to slack off. He excels in his field and after long struggle of being able getting into med school, he just couldn't afford missing any of his classes lecture. Practical philosophy and empathy is crucial in understanding his patients.

"Uhhh, send me the invitation code." he answers ,"I will accept when I take you to this campus' museum after class."

"Okay!" Her eyes beams with delight, she completely forgot that she had this exciting appointment.

"Did you not like the lesson?" Leorio asks Neon on their visit to the museum with a low voice, avoiding attentions from her attendants and bodyguard.

"Oh yes, I don't share the same opinion with the class' point of view about souls, afterlife, blah blah blah. But people are free to believe whatever they want to believe and that was a philosophy class." She answers while examining carefully each body parts that is put in the glass showcase.

"So you don't believe in the afterlife..."

Neon shrugs her shoulder "It's a useful class for doctors and lawyers though." She admits the benefit of the class without denying her belief ,"By the way did you get the invite in your inbox?"

"Ah! Yeah, I'll create my account now." He focuses on his phone, clearly not interested in the museum's contents.

"Why do you ask?" Neon is reminded of the handsome, tall, dark stranger she met once. He asked her a similar question regarding afterlife. _What was his name again?_ She wonders.

"I would love to believe that when we're doing what the dead expected us to do, they will get their peace. In fact, I am highly motivated to be a doctor for my dead friend."

"That's strange, I feel like I've heard that before." she continues her question to fulfill the curiosity in her mind ,"Did your friend literally said that he wanted you to be a doctor?" _Why does so many people claim to know what the dead wants?_

"He did not say that but I know he would love me to." He answers in grieving tone ,"Because I know him, Neon. I know he wants the better world for us, for people like us." Leorio puts away his phone to focus on explaining his view ,"The dead tells no story, but their narrative lives on."

"Oh..." For a moment, she feels melancholic, getting a brief understanding for another belief she never try to question.

"And how do you do it? Winning so much in poker?" Leorio lightens the mood by pointing at Neon's account as a referral on his phone.

"I really love poker Leorio. I'm very good at it and I play it all the time in my room with my attendants! I have won enough jenny in my life through the casinos to buy the world's most expensive bag more than twice."

"Really!? How?" He is amazed on how flexible the methods of being rich are. Growing up poor, it never occurred to him that someone could become rich just by being an expert in one specific thing-gambling. Sure, he has tried several times and had his wins, but not enough to make him rich. Admittedly, he is never excels in any kind of debauchery.

"Oh it's easy. I'm just good with predictions." as she speaks, she gets a spontaneous idea ,"Hey Leorio. Do you want to go to the casino? We'll bring everyone."

Leorio ponders at the idea, it has been a long time since he had fun ,"Yeah, sounds fun! Call Kurapika!"

Neon is feeling overjoyed to have an excuse to call Kurapika although it is not a private call with Leorio joining on speaker mode.

"I can't join you guys. I have a very important meeting to attend tonight."

"That's a shame!" they both respond.

"You guys can go. It would be good if Neon doesn't come home too late, and I'll catch up if possible. Sorry I gotta go now."

On the other side of the phone, Kurapika puts away his cellphone as their call ended, back to the meeting on his schedule. It is a meeting with unfamiliar syndicates, where they offer a tremendous amount of money in exchange for illegal border security. More financial freedom granted to him means he gets to make a purchase of another pair of the eyes.

The meeting room is spacious and casual. Everyone sports similar style of suits including Kurapika, a code to identify their profession. They're acting modest and polite until one of the old guys offer his prostitutes order to the younger members.

"No thanks, I'm married." Kurapika is glad that his marriage of convenience literally brings more convenience, a good excuse to refuse ridiculous hedonistic lifestyle requested from some syndicates.

The old guy replied with a chuckle ,"So are we, young lad."

"We are so in love." he pauses ,"Miss Nostrade and I have matching tatoos." shamelessly adding lie to convince the older guys ,"Shall we get to the job then?"

He got a task to create a special instruction of how to split and traffic several kilos of cocaine to the West border. Not a job his moral compass would agree with, and certainly not something he wants to do in a long run. But it is his job for now, else these underlings would be executed. On the bright side, this job gives him money and thrill, as if it were a fun puzzle to solve.

Outside the city casino, there's a lot of street food stalls, organized and clean. Their stall lights illuminating the street gives off authentic city nightlife scene.

Neon had escaped her attendants. This time she wasn't planning to escape. She just want to take a closer look of the street on her way to the toilet. Once in a while she just really enjoy a precious illegal me-time, where she can be alone without "surveillance". This kind of moment makes her feel indescribable peace until she bumps into the handsome stranger she thought of earlier that day. Black coat, a long black scarf, a beanie hat with two ice cream cones in hand.

"Chro..." She struggles to remember his name.

"Chrollo."

"Ah, Chrollo-san! You look different. How have you been?" She asks in doubtful tone, not sure if she can trust the man in front of him or not. She couldn't remember much about him but she knows that her life has turned upside down since she met the mysterious guy.

"I am good, little miss. And you?"

"Me too." She answers sarcastically before continuing "What are you doing here? Are you involved in the meetings that's been taking place in this city?" she asks carefully.

"Unfortunately, I am doing odd jobs now. Mafia life does not suit me." Chrollo lies smoothly, matching his expressive gesture ,"It is too dangerous!" he adds, referring to the last massacre he started.

"I see then. Are you selling ice cream now?"

"I am trying new flavours from the famous stall, but I suppose it would taste better if we share it." Chrollo offers her over the blue-coloured ice cream cone. "It's bubble-gum flavour."

"Mmm. No thanks! It's cold so I think I have to go back now!" she cuts the chase and takes the chance to escape, but was stopped by a gentle touch on her shoulder before she ran off.

"Wait!" he stops her and have her hold the ice-creams ,"You just need a layer of scarf to get warm." Chrollo gently wraps his black-suede scarf around her neck. Neon's fright subsides as her heart softens from the hospitality she just received, probably he is not the bad guy ,"Thank you Chrollo-san."

"Are you still interested in my offer?"

"Oh, sure. Thanks!" She returns one of the ice-cream, keeping the blue one for herself.

Chrollo sighs under his breath. It was surprising that his short visit while going to the east would lead him to a coincidence meeting with his victim. Unfortunately she seems to suspect him and approached him rather in unfriendly manner. It wasn't what he expected. As a skill collector, he treasures his victims as much as a body collector treasures her preserved body organs, he expected a more friendly meeting with a girl that has something in common with him. Afterall, they did enjoy each other's company.

Chrollo looks at the blue haired girl. He doesn't believe his own feeling that he's rather happy to see her. He always find her adorable and had life been different, they could've been friends. "Are you not with your bodyguards tonight? Do you want to explore the night market with me?" He asks in friendly tone.

"Sorry Chrollo-san, I'm still under supervision. And I'm married now. I don't think my husband would appreciate just the two of us spending time together. Were you not invited to my wedding party?" her answer piqued his curiousity. _Is it the chain bastard?_

"Congratulations little miss! Oh I must've been already cut off from mafia community then." he answers in fake delightful tone ,"What's your husband like? He is a really lucky guy."

"Thanks!" Neon pauses before answering the unexpected question. _What's Kurapika like? _She pondered.

"Well, he said he's going to bring a me a pair of scarlet eyes. Very thoughtful, isn't it?" She answers as she decides to describe him according to their last interaction. "How about joining my friends and attendants tonight? I'll introduce them to you."

_It's not the chain bastard then?_ Tickling his competitive side, his hand gestures her to come closer, as if they're children sharing secrets.

"You have no idea how much scarlet eyes I can bring you." he leans closer and whispers to her ear. To which she replies uncomfortably ,"What does that mean Chrollo-san?"

"Keep it a secret between us." He puts his finger on his lip.

"I'll back to work now little miss. Sorry I can't join you and your bodyguards. I hope to see you again." Chrollo left, waving his hand and gave his charming smile ,"Just the two of us next time, hopefully." he faintly adds.

"Ah Chrollo-san! Wait! Your scarf!"

"Take it with you. It's a gift." Then he disappears into the night scene, blending in with the dark corners and dim city lights. Neon had tried looking around to see where he works out of curiosity, but she couldn't find any clue. Before she realizes it, it was the longest 10 minutes she had today.

* * *

A/N : Hello! I had a BIG writer's block while deciding the ending. Describing physical interaction between the characters is really difficult although exciting, then suddenly this chapter becomes looooong. I haven't even corrected the previous chapter and I just couldn't resist to have Chrollo in their dynamic, it's YorkNew arc formula. The Violin Extract of The Sun Also Shines at Night uploaded by papuv recko is totally their theme. Can't wait to put a longer A/N at the ending of this series in the next chapter or two cause for now I'm beat ^^;


	7. Chapter 7

A/N Notes : OMG Akira High five o/. I really wanted to talk about it, sorry I can't reply anonymous so I have to put it here. Your comment is totally the reason why I ship Kuraneo. From my intrepretation, I always think people got it backwards about Kurapika and Neon. Kurapika has an icy facade, but he is the type of person who grow on people, while Neon is not. Even when he distanced himself from the other bodyguards at their first meeting, he is the one who cares the most about his "comrades"/teammates, he punched Uvo for killing his teammates. Neon, on the other hand, doesn't even flinch when she heard that Dalzolenne is dead although he's been the one who took care of her. She even made one of her servant as wall decoration.

I believe her chemistry to Chrollo is because they have a lot of similarity. Both of them are specialist: independent & charismatic, only care about their closest "friends" (Eliza & Phantom Troupe), and they have similar hobby, which is collecting things. She is an accomplice to Chrollo's motive as treasure thief. At the core of their personality, both Neon and Chrollo have fascination to people in general, that's why Neon become a clairvoyant to help people and Chrollo has a nen-stealing ability because he wants a piece of them.

That does not make her a bad person in grey HxH universe, but someone with different values due to her belief and upbringing. Kurapika demonstrates his understanding of her when describing her to Basho. In fact, he is the most understanding person that treats her nicely and does not harm her even though he had the intention to. Kurapika didn't think Neon losing her ability as the family downfall or disability, unlike her own father. As much as assuring everything will be okay when Light broke down in GI Arc. This is a huge revolution in her life because since Kurapika stepped in, someone is finally using her(I know he still does lol) without the need of her ability.

Her loss of ability actually sounds like a parallel to Pairo's loss of eyesight when people around them refer them as "not normal" and they were both supposed to be under his care. This leaves a huge question mark for me of how Kurapika interprets her at this point. Some people would say he killed her but canonically, that is totally impossible and out of character. My hot take is she's alive. He managed to take 9 pairs of eyes from 'the mafia's daughter' without killing anyone. I doubt he would let her get hurt after Chrollo stole her ability, I assume it would be insulting considering he takes his job seriously and inheriting Nostrade name.

If it's Hisoka whom killed her when he's away, well, frankly I don't really care. Neferpitou is dead and I still ship him with Kite. I think the problem with unpopular ship is they don't have a healthy relationship canonically. The same can be said about Hisokuro, Kuroneo and Kurokura. None of them have normally acceptable foundation and they don't need it anyway. Their special interest toward each other is a good reason to ship them. We are free to interpret the characters as we like in fandom. I will not have Chrollo in this fic anymore though, let him go on adventures.

I wanted to write this in my A/N Notes in the ending but I just couldn't help it! ^_^ I'll get back to the story and continue my A/U later. Thank you for all the comments and stay safe during quarantine friends.

* * *

Neon quickly gets inside the building, She wants to avoid the fuss that would cause tighter security in the future. The casino is grand with high ceilings and numerous pillars surrounding every corners of the building, but there's no ice cream stall inside so she eats her ice cream immediately, resulting in a brain freeze. Before she gets to finish it, Eliza taps her shoulder.

"Where have you been Miss Neon?"

"Eliza! I was-" she glances over the ice cream before she continues ,"-trying the ice cream outside.", giving her favorite attendant an honest answer.

She sighs while taking a handkerchief from her bag to wipe Neon's lip from ice cream, maybe she really shouldn't leave her alone even when she goes to the toilet ,"Mr. Kurapika is here and he wouldn't be happy to know you slipped away."

"He is here?" she reacts in delightful tone ,"I thought he would join us later."

"Seems like he finishes his work early and eager to join you and Mr. Leorio." Eliza answers ,"Shall we join them too now?"

"Sure. Oh, wait." Neon tosses the leftover ice cream to the bin_._ Despite thinking that it is such a waste of food since she likes the flavour, but she doesn't want to risk Kurapika sighing at her. When he first worked for the family, he was really polite and never have opinion against her wish. But since her power is gone and he got more authority, he's been more vocal about his opinion. It's still hard to decline his request for her not to sneak out, he asked her really nicely and it's for her own safety.

"I thought you're taking your study seriously. But you agree to her idea of going to the casino?" Kurapika asks Leorio in disbelief, a tone full of judgement that is so familiar to him.

"Stop being a judgemental bitch. I can have fun once in a while!" Leorio points at a roulette machine and jests ,"You see that? I bet my 100.000 jenny I'll win that game."

"Pointless bet. You will lose and I bet my 500.000 jenny." Kurapika follows the idea as he display the habit formed from accompanying Neon too much to the auction, which is replied by a gasp from Leorio "Are you serious!?"

Neon is glad to see them having a conversation to keep each other entertained. She hopes he will not notice that she had sneaked out.

"Kurapika! I am glad you could make it here earlier."

Kurapika notices the mismatch on her outfit, he had observed that not only she rarely wears black, she would never wear it with her pastel casual dress. Never once.

"Where did you get that?" he stares the black scarf and asks casually.

Neon hesitated for a moment, she wasn't expecting him to be so detailed. Her eyes widened, not sure if she should be honest or not about the origin of the scarf.

"It's not yours, isn't it?" he continues, puzzled of her reaction.

"This is... from a man just now." she immediately loosen the scarf and pass it to Kurapika ,"Hold it for me, will you?"

He immediately notices that the fragrance lingered is not hers. Nice masculine fragrance, sprayed on correct amount. And vomiting when sprayed too much. It is specifically fragrance that he once had smell in one of the meeting rooms. A man's cologne.

"What man?"

"A man... in his 26." she answers nervously, convincing herself not to feel guilty while being a bit angry that Chrollo flirted with her.

He raises his eyebrow, decided not to be nosy. It must be a lecherous man hanging around in casino, approaching her on her way from the lobby.

"Are you not cold if I keep this? You should wear my outerwear." he folds the scarf while offering her the alternative, trying to keep an open mind that maybe that man assumed she looks cold. Which is unlikely, he could swear that city girls including Neon simply lose their sense of cold on occasions where they're dressed stylish.

"Oh no thanks. I'm good." Neon answers spontaneously.

"No. Wear it." Even when he realizes they're indoor now, he couldn't help feeling a little jealous if she accepted another man's offer but not his. And he especially dislikes that expensive, nice-smelling black scarf.

He takes off his outwear and wrap it up on her shoulder, resulting in a stylish oversized cardigan. "Thanks." Neon blushes when his hand brushes her shoulder gently, didn't think she would need his outerwear until she feels goosebumps under her skin for feeling so joyous.

"Now watch me and get ready to lose your 500.000 jenny!" Leorio shouts dramatically beside Kurapika, enjoying his rare recreation time ,"Eliza, do you agree I would win too?"

Eliza chuckles ,"That is a hard bet, Mr. Leorio."

Neon observes keenly. She was really worried when Eliza had a breakdown and had a bad premonition back then in the department store where Eliza nodded that something good happened. Neon never cared about Squalla, only her collections, the dogs and her female attendants. Unfortunately Squalla's death afftected Eliza greatly. There was times when Eliza refused to eat or not stop crying. The same time Neon realized she lost her power. That was a messy time she would never repeat again.

It is relieving for her to see Eliza happy and socializing again. Her other female attendants too. She spoils them. Unlike the bodyguards, the girls live longer and they often share her love for hedonism. They can appreciate the value of Chnel perfume or Givench nail polishes. Neon is always happy to gift them one set or two.

The bodyguards, on the other hand, come from different world. They are oftentimes are boring and die quickly. Just ugh.

Neon is so lost in her thoughts to realize that Kurapika has approached her to join the fun instead of just watching from behind. "Neon, Eliza and the girls are making another bet for Leorio. Do you want to join?"

"Oh. I was just thinking actually, why are you still alive?"

"Sorry, what do you mean?"

"My head bodyguard changes quickly, you might be the longest on the job for now. Longer than Dalzolenne. " she explains ,"Do you have a secret ability?"

Kurapika ponders in confusion for a moment._ Well, definitely yes_. He thought. But does he has to explain that? He lowers his gaze to check the drink in her hand, but she definitely is not drunk.

"Or are you just really strong?" she suddenly leans her face closer to his while touching his arm, admiring his beautiful face with curiosity.

Her gesture has flushed him. In the midst of heartbeat and excitement, he could not answer with a lie ,"Strong enough just to keep you alive." as if there is a continuation to his answer.

"I see." she responds, relaxing the tension between them ,"I am siding with Leorio then."

They turns their head to see the roulette machine rolls and Leorio lose. Neon reacts by staring in disbelief when she loses her bet ,"That's no fun! We should make another bet!"

The night was fun and surreal for all of them before they get back to routine. Neon was really sleepy when they got back. She completely forgot the time when her attendant asked her what to do with the black scarf ,"Oh, just put it on the table." she answered.

It was not a problem when she spent her days shopping and exploring the town only with her female attendants. There was no class and Kurapika has been very busy in the city. She completely forgets that the scarf exists until Kurapika meet her before one of her scheduled class.

He has little time to keep his promise to spend time with her between his schedule before he see the black scarf, folded on the corner of her table. His anger boils as jealousy and suspicion arouse.

"Do you need my help to throw this scarf to the trash bin?" he asks in the calmest tone possible, trying to keep his composure. Neon was surprised upon hearing such aggressive question. She immediately realizes her recklessness for placing the scarf in inappropriate place, but to throw it is just too much.

Answering Neon's silence, he decided to just toss the scarf into the bin ,"I assume it is a yes."

"What did you do?" She was shocked when the scarf was tossed so casually.

"A stranger's scarf so precious to you that you keep it in your room for days? Is this a part of your new collection?"

"Take it away, whatever you want. But you don't have to throw it like that, you know."

"Was that man only has one arm? Pink skin? Or any other handicap that interest you?"

"What is wrong with you? I don't have any interest in him. I just know him." Neon reacts defensively to his offensive question. She can only baffle when he shows his true, brutally honest colour.

"Is that so? Can you tell me who it is then?"

"It's an acquaintance I met in YorkNew."

"A man that brings you into the auction building in YorkNew?" Kurapika loses his patience. He never really explained about what happened in YorkNew to Neon, but it is unbelievable she could be that careless. Did that man approach her on purpose again? Why did he give her his scarf? That cursed phantom troupe leader really can't live in peace without disturbing anything related to his life.

"Listen, he was-" Neon is about to explain her meetings with Chrollo, but she was cut by Kurapika ,"You should get ready before the class starts soon."

"I would escort you myself from now on even to the university."


	8. Chapter 8

Kurapika has been ignoring Neon the whole trip.

He is really not in any mood to listen to any of her excuse, especially regarding a specific person he thought would not be involved anymore in his life.

All this caused by a stupid gift. If only Kurapika would listen that Chrollo is just a good acquaintance of her. But he just doesn't want to listen, does he?

Even if he's jealous, she is not impressed or flattered at all by his spiteful reaction. No one ever disregard her wish before, moreover her explanation. Having table turned at her is suffocating.

The car is going in a slow rate. It's tiring. Boring. Frustating. The spacious Mercedes Bensz seats feel so cramped and she desperately want to escape. The infatuation she feels for him is disappearing. She just want to go home, be left alone in her spa room.

She grabs her bag and walk faster to the class room, making no eye contact. She thought of skipping the class but then she would be walking endlessly in the building with him following her everywhere. That would be the scenario she would like to avoid. She is unable to literally escape, how else is she express her tantrum? She hoped that before the class begin, the professor would ask him to leave as he is not registered in the course. Unfortunately for her, she sees the sight of him talking to the professor before the class and made eye contact with her, as if saying "As if". Then, he proceeds to sit at the back.

"Why are you here?" Leorio is surprised to see a certain friend he know is sitting next to him ,"And why is Neon sitting in the middle row?"

"Don't ask." Kurapika then proceeds to interact with his phone. His sudden reschedule has shifted all his works. He's been wondering what can he do remotely since they were in the car and trying to make light of situation. Maybe it is a break from his criminal duty. At least he knows now that the professor he's targeting is prone to bribery.

It is Neon's first time experience to sit in the middle row. Usually she would sit in the front row due to her affluence. The front row seat would be reserved for her as a sign of respect to his father or their family name, and when it's not, she simply can afford the ticket for it. Nothing to complain when it's a prestigious fashion show or movie premiere. But, she would prefer the back row when she has the freedom to choose, especially when she thinks that whatever she is attending is boring.

Middle row seat is a whole different world, it's crowded and people are very interactive.

"Hi, nice to meet you. I'm Kim from the law department. I have never seen you before. Which major are you from?" a pixie-haired girl greets her.

"Hi. I was here last week. But I am not enrolled in this university."

"Yeah I know. You were sitting to Leorio last week. I'm his friend. The man's well-known here."

"Oh, is he?" Neon turns her head to check on her new friend, just to find Kurapika next to him staring at her with judgemental face. She suddenly feels so irritated.

"Reliable and gentle hearted. But a bit brash." the pixie-haird girl explains before moving on with her conversation ,"What is your name?"

"Sorry?"

"What is your name?"

"It's Neon. Nice to meet you."

The girl lowers her voice to ask shyly ,"Are you Leorio's girlfriend?"

"Whaat? Not at all!" Neon gasps at the question, although she finds the question to be particularly interesting.

"Do you live nearby?"

"Yeah, sure. Why?"

"Probably we can hangout later. With Leorio too."

"That is a good idea!" Neon beams with the idea of another trip to casino "I live in 453 Avenue Hotel."

"Wow, you live in a hotel. That's not surprising I guess." Kim glances at Neon's limited edition YSL Bag.

The lecture is boring her to death. All the talk about religion and belief reminds her of her old days when she haven't discovered fortune telling ability and still went to an elite private school. Nostrade family originates from a heavily religious country with many medieval church buildings, therefore theology is something she was familiar with since it is a mandatory courses.

But for her, it does not change the fact that people die and their bodies rot. What is left become merely objects. Souls, heaven, hell. They just never align with her belief. Galactic Matron might be a fraud but at least she made sense.

Her new friend passes a piece of note to her desk, asking for her number. Apparently, the note is from the boy next to Kim. Neon rolls her eyes. Just because she was being friendly with some people, does not mean she wanted to be friends with everyone. Although this time, she is willing to give a pass because Kim has convinced Neon ,"Please, he just wants us to be friends. For me too."

Neon writes her number on the paper. But before she gets to pass her note to her new friend, Kurapika interrupts her.

"If you want Neon's contact, I can write it for you."

Neon hisses silently.

"It is in the middle of lecture! Why are you coming to this row?"

"I know. Keep your voice low." Kurapika warns as he writes his number on the paper.

"Hey! That's not even my number." She complains.

"Miss Nostrade. Your chatter is disturbing the class." the professor scolds her, causing Neon to scowl at Kurapika. He just raises his eyebrow, mouthed ,"I told you." It does not take long before she decide to freshen up in the bathroom.

"Why are you following me? I am going to the bathroom!"

"I am not following you, I am guarding you." he corrected her before adding ,"Would you prefer if your new friends guard you?"

"Maybe they will at least listen to me."

Kurapika usually never bothers with her attitude. Although people around her calls her spoiled and annoying, he never shared the same opinion. If shopping is what Neon wants, then good for her. No one understand better than him regarding how it feels to be persistent, be it shopping or getting out of village. The only complain he has before was only Neon's strange taste for collection. But now, before him stands a careless, ungrateful girl.

Not only she had made his job ten times more difficult, she deliberately endanger herself by sneaking out, meeting the very same exact fuckery person Chrollo twice, and now she provokes him. Probably years of deliberate social distancing has damaged her prefrontal cortex because she clearly cannot distinguish people with ulterior motive and not.

"He asked your number. Might as well give him Nostrade mansion's number so he can wiretap all our calls."

"Kurapika..." she glares back at him "Just because they're poor, does not mean you can accuse them like that."

"Are you aware that girl is a friend of Leorio? Seems like she likes him very much." Neon utters ,"She is the friend of your friend. But you don't care, right? That's because you never listen to others."

"They might not carry the latest YSLL Bag, but they had audicity to approach me as a friend and I appreciate that. I'm sure someone conceited like you won't understand." she adds.

He furrows his brow. Seems like they just had a misunderstanding. Never in his wildest dream he would be lectured about friendship and money by Neon, the soulless girl whom has spent billion jenny to collect body parts. Not only that, she accused him twice in her sentence. What is she on about?

"Poor people can be fun too, Kurapika!"

He sighs in relief.

"You mean you appreciate their presence to entertain yourself."

"There you are again."

"I apologize. But whatever excuses you are providing them with, I am not giving you permission to share your contact number or hang out with them unsupervised. Also I don't recall myself being conceited."

"You know what? Do whatever you want." Neon sighs, talking to him is like talking to a brick wall. She didn't know he is this stubborn. She decides to return to the classroom at once rather than spending awkward walk with him and they returns to their seat at once.

"Who was that? Another Leorio's friend? Your boyfriend?"

"Ummmmm. Yes and no."

"No?"

"No but yes maybe."

"Oh wow. You're kidding me."

"Yeah I might be kidding myself." Neon answers without looking at her new friend, rather focused more on her own thoughts. Still feeling annoyed.

Noticing Neon's lack of interest in having conversation, she ends it ,"Don't mind it girl. I'll text ya later."

Meanwhile, Kurapika is cross-checking the fact he just got to Leorio ,"Hey. Is that girl over there really your friend?"

Leorio immediately looks over to the specific direction "Mm. Nah. Met her once at campus event."

"She's been crushing on me though." he continues ,"It's not a surprising news. I'm popular in campus. Of course she would be obsessed."

Kurapika just give him disgusted look, which is obviously just a joke.

"Hey, don't give me that look!" Leorio protested.

Kurapika shook his head over this ridiculous college drama. He gets that the girl is just crushing on Leorio, so she made attempts befriending whom she assumed to be Leorio's friend. But he still doesn't appreciate her encouraging Neon to give her number to random 'classmate'. Especially to disgusting looking guy with tacky clothes eyeing at Neon. Only blind people would say that slime has no other intention but to be "friends'. Kurapika has thought that since he lost his chance to punch spider guy, maybe he can punch that slime.

It's not his fault that he's being rather strict right now. He has long tolerated her hobby to collect dead people, partly because he has grown accustomed to her in general. She does not need to add another idiocy for him to tolerate. Since she made judgement earlier that he was being conceited, he now made judgement for Neon as well that she is a thickhead for being ignorant of her surroundings, letting people take advantages of her including her dad.

Before he realizes it, he has spent a lot of time just being angry. Whirlwind of emotions breaks his focus, he could have finished some task by his phone instead of being mad at Neon and random slimy guy. On a second thought, probably dealing with the task of guarding substance type-A smuggle is less exhausting.

Neon has been ignoring him all day, but what irritates her the most is how he keep following her with no attempt to interact with her. Not even a single conversation. Rather, he's busy on his phone and making calls. Neon never believed in ghost, but now she know how it feels to be haunted by one. She thought he would soon lose his patience and break the awkward silence. Instead, it is her whom lose her patience.

"Are we in quarantine or something?"

"I am not. You are."

"How long are you gonna haunt me like this?"

"For the last time, I am guarding you."

"Okay then, what are you doing here? It's late and it's time to bed." she complains.

"Make yourself comfortable then. I will be sleeping here. I am not risking you to jump from the bathroom window to sneak out."

She can't tell if he is joking or simply mocking since her suite is on the highest floor. Today, he has been getting rude and rude. And she feels nothing but suffocated, probably asking him to spend more time together in the first place was a bad idea.

"Don't worry. I'm sleeping on the couch." reminding her that she stays in a five star suite.

"No. I don't allow it. If you want to sleep here, you have to sleep in the same bed as me!" she says. If he insisted on giving her no space, then she can do the same too.

He paused a moment before answering ,"Actually, I am really mad at you. But if you want to do it, I have no complain."

"You pervert! That's not what I mean!" She reacts by throwing him a pillow.

"Fine." he says.

He sighs at another misunderstanding. What was that about then? He simply thought that now she can finally see how serious he take his duties as both a bodyguard and a husband. At this moment, he already has so much in mind related to his postponed works and he simply can't afford to solve another puzzle. Women are complicated. Seems like the more they spend time with each other, the less they can understand each other.

"You're still wearing contacts. How can you sleep? Do you know that it's bad to wear your contacts to sleep?"

"I am well-aware. Thank you very much."

"You are not comfortable at all."

"I am."

"No, you are not."

"I am."

"No."

"Fine. How comfortable you want me to be?"

"How long are you gonna do this? Since you were mad about that scarf, you became annoying."

_This again. _He mutters to himself ,"You really want to talk about him? Do you like him? The guy that met you in YorkNew."

"I don't like him." she protests

"What did you guys talk about?"

"Nothing important."

"Are you happy to meet him twice?"

It seems useless to voice her opinion unless she answer to his questions first. She feels like a criminal in a courthouse.

"I always meet him accidentally." she finally gives up ,"He helped me sneak into the auction. I am thankful but that's all."

"He seems to be eager to keep seeing you, huh? He went as far as giving you the scarf." Kurapika adds, suspicious of Chrollo's motive. Since the notorious thief has stolen her fortune telling power, what else does he want?

"How am I supposed to know?" she clenched her brow.

"What's going on between you two?"

At first, Neon was hesitant to tell him. But after giving it some thoughts, she decides to give him a honest explanation ,"I respect him because he opened up to me."

"Back then I still had my power, he asked me to read his fortune." she continues ,"He said the prediction was beautiful, then he genuinely express his sadness to me."

"It was really touching." she pauses.

"I have written many futures for various people. Yet, I never knew how my fortunes made them feel. And how helping them would make me feel."

Kurapika is surprised that Neon did not give out lame explanation. But rather, meaningful meeting that they both had shared, burning his heart with jealousy. If he could choose, he would prefer it if she gave a lame explanation.

"Are you jealous?" she teases him to break the silence.

"I am." he answers seriously.

"Don't be." She chuckles while thinking that his honest reaction is kind of cute ,"I don't like him romantically and I told him I am not available."

_So he does like her. _He rolls his eyeball internally ,"He flirted with you?"

"I think he is weird," Her tone changes ,"He told me if I were with him, he could give me a lot of scarlet eyes."

"Can you believe him Kurapika?"

* * *

A/U : OMG This was long. Finally I am thiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiis close in reaching the ending! Really enjoyed writing this because I got to made reference to our new term : 'social distancing'. I am mostly inspired by the divorce rate rise news after quarantine. I guess spending too much time together is bad.


	9. Chapter 9

"The eyes are like, really expensive." Neon continues ,"And how does he know that I like them so much?"

"What do you think?" she asks innocently.

"Well... I think..." he starts the narrative in his head, wondering if Neon is asking about how Chrollo knows about her favorite collection or how Chrollo can be so confident about obtaining the eyes. He's got to do something about Chrollo still going after her. But he certainly does not want to linger around this topic too much as his head boils over anger. Even if Chrollo said it to Neon, he takes it as personal attack and challenge. What does that offer mean? Directly or not, Chrollo always wants to get his hands on whatever related to him.

_Not only he is a thief, but also a creep._ Kurapika recalls the time Chrollo mistook him for a woman. _Seems like he is a pervert too._

"You are well-known in the mafia community. I think everybody would know that." instead of giving a long explanation, he chooses to keep her at peace with simplified truth.

"Oh."

Kurapika can not wait another second to ask the question that worry him the most ,"Would you go out with that guy if he ever gives you the collections?"

"Of course not!" She answers quickly ,"He's much older than me and I barely know him."

"I would bid the eyes from him though, for a lower price." she adds giggly.

"Papa no longer give me permission to buy such extravagant collections although we have the money." she explains ,"But, you don't reckon that I'm trying to get close to you just so you can get it for me, right?"

Before Neon mentioned it, such suspicion did not even cross his mind. Clearly there are some private conversations between Light and Neon that is out of Kurapika's reach. He did not expect that the conversation would include Neon's new budget plan.

Kurapika actually get the sudden realization just now.

He does not need Neon's name on receipt when he buy the eyes. He has been working harder than the devil and did not realize the prize is in his hand already. Financial freedom.

"It's your family money, it's your right." Kurapika says.

"It was mine when I earned it." She furrows her eyebrow in confusion ,"It's yours now."

"Papa loves you for covering so much for him. As long as you keep the family business running, I'm sure he won't look into your bank account."

"Anyway..." Neon get back to the topic, mustering the courage in her heart as she stares at him. She really appreciates Kurapika. he is the hardworking, honest man who has been very understanding of her. Definitely not understanding as for today. But she easily put that aside it when he admitted that he was jealous. She notes that she would put honesty as her number one favorite trait.

"I just want to know you better."

"Know me better?"

Kurapika blushed when hearing her statement. He did wish to spend more time with her, but the thoughts of knowing her better never occurred to him. He thought he already knew her. Probably he is as conceited as she claimed.

"I want to know your favorite movie, song, or food."

"Also, I'm sorry I wasn't being upfront about the man that I met in YorkNew."

"I was just scared you'd be mad."

"Honestly, have your opinion about me changed? Will you forgive me for sneaking out?" Neon asks nervously. This is one of the rare moments where she cares about other's opinion. She still remember how her heart thumped when Chrollo cried reading his fortune. She hopes Kurapika can accept her sincere apology if she's being honest.

"I.. was not mad about that. I'm just concerned." Kurapika explains clunkily. Unable to tell whether his heartbeat was caused by all these talks about the eyes and spider guy or because his heart flutters from talking to Neon.

"Going on on your own is dangerous and sharing your number to random guy is just..."

"I don't want anything happen to you." "I mean, your safety is my priority."

When Neon apologized, he finally must admit to himself that he hasn't been focusing on the eyes nor the spider. Seems like he's falling deeper than expected. It is a crime to be this cute. He did not expect another layer of her personality to be so enchanting.

"I understand now. Thank you for being honest with me."

Guilt graces over his face. What she referred was rather his spontaneous honesty, but other than that, he has no intention to reveal his tangled, strategized cover. He wonders if he could ever do that, because then she will find out he has been lying all this time. He can't risk himself to lose all the resources. And more importantly, he doesn't want to face her rejection toward him. Though, those two are in wrong order of priority.

"I have to be honest about two things for now." he tries to revert the distracting topic to something equally important.

"What's wrong?"

"First, your new friends have been spamming my inbox. Do you really want to hang out with them?"

"You'd let me hang out with them?" she reacts excitedly at his change of mind, rather than the idea of hanging out with her new friends.

"Yes. But with supervision." He shows the repetitive text messages in his inbox.

_Thursday? The Coffee Shop? Would be happy if you ask .  
_

_Let me know if he couldn't make it! We'll reschedule._

Kurapika changed his mind after Neon apologized for sneaking out. He wants to make sure she understand that he does not wish to imprison her. Rather, keep her away from danger. On top of that, there seems to be no danger in letting her have fun with these new people. He's rather worried about Leorio.

"I'm so happy! Thank you!" she exlaims happily.

"Will you let me sleep on the couch?"

"Hmm?" Neon's eyes widen with humourless smile, she definitely did not expect the second statement.

"Oh, I thought you are happy to be with me."

Kurapika sighed. Frankly, he is not in any condition to sleep at all. He planned to wait for her to fall asleep before he can finally take off his contacts and take a rest. He was sure he could do the plan before, because his relationship with Neon was kind of sour. He is not sure if he can do the plan anymore.

"Neon..." he clears his throat ,"I will be frank so we will not argue over a misunderstanding."

"As you can see we are legally married now. If you do not have any intention to tempt me, it would do us good to grant me personal space."

She almost burst laughing. Boys are really funny. She leans closer to pinch his cheek softly, causing him to flush ,"Okay baby. Feel free, I'm tired. Good night!"

It is a busy morning. Putting aside his work, Kurapika calls Leorio to ask Neon's arrangement with her new classmates.

"You don't seem excited with this arrangement, aren't you?" He asks, noticing Leorio's lack of interest in his voice.

"Ugh. What am I supposed to say? I'm trying to be professional but I just don't feel the same way about her. I just think it would rub her in the wrong way. I don't even know her name." Leorio describes his opinion over the call. After giving it some thoughts, Kurapika doesn't feel like risking Leorio's privacy and hanging out with the wrong crowd will worth the fun. Unexpectedly she shows the same level of excitement.

"I have forgotten her name too..." Neon answers the call.

"Maybe we should skip the whole arrangement. " Kurapika suggests, none of them seem to be actually interested in hanging out with new people.

"Aw, she'd be sad later in the class. Or should I just skip this week's course? But I thought you still have something to do with the professor?"

"Well, I will take care of that soon. If you don't like the class we can just drop it."

"Really?" Neon grins happily, saying goodbye to the boring lectures.

"Guess we can save Leorio the trouble. Let's spend the time together then, just the two of us."

"At the Macy's? Or the hotel restaurant?"

"Let's just meet first at my place."

Neon's cheeks redden when she heard the plan. What is he suggesting? He usually would be too busy to drop in first and ask to meet him at the meeting point. She asks suspiciously ,"This is suspicious. Where are we going?"

"You will find out later. I told Eliza to give you the key from the reception. Sorry, gotta switch call now. Your dad is calling." he answers quickly before switching the call. It is another business call, a constant reminder there are someone whose has higher priority than Neon and that's her father, Light Nostrade. But he doesn't mind it. A busy and structured schedule tempers him to achieve goal effectively.

It is almost 8pm and Neon just got back from the closest shopping malls with her attendants. She can finally she can meet Kurapika again after all his busy schedules. She couldn't believe she missed his presence when he slept over her room. She could've greeted him good morning or ask him to grab breakfast together. Getting enough sleep never prevents her to woke up two hours later than him. Neon wonders what's the secret of every morning person.

Neon looks around Kurapika's empty suite room. It's weird to notice that she's only been there once. She never even saw his room in the mansion. The empty suite room smells good. The vibe is comfortable and tidy, even to the details like papers and lamp wires. He chose a smaller suite than her so there is no unnecessary furniture, but the room nevertheless looks just as luxurious and extravagant. It really describes him.

She wonders if it is unconventional that they don't share the same bedroom although they're married. Even when she's relaxing in his room and enjoying every second of it, Neon still find no desire to share the same personal space. That does not make her cherish him less.

"Neon?" A familiar voice is heard as the door open.

"Oh hi Kurapika!"

"You're already here?"

"Around five minutes ago. Where're we going tonight?" She notices that he held a present box with red ribbon in his arm ,"Hm? What's that?"

Kurapika gives a faint smile while handing the box over to Neon ,"Surprise."

"A present? Oh you shouldn't have."

"Open it."

"I never expected you to have such sweet idea." Neon teases him as she unwrap her present. "Oh my gosh."

"It's the scarlet eyes!" She gasps when she looks at her gift.

It was easier than expected. For 3.5 billion jenny, the professor presented Kurapika the pair of the eyes without complain. Authentic and preserved.

He had stared to the eyes hours before gifting it to Neon, questioning his life choices. Why would he gift this to Neon? He could keep the eyes for himself without giving it to her. That's the right thing to do for his brothers and sisters.

But he desperately wanted to gift it to her, quenching his thirst to impress her. Feeling excited as his conscience screaming at the selfish motive. A corrupt motive to collect the eyes for her and himself.

"Oh my gosh, Kurapika! Thank you so much!" Neon hugged the eye jars then throws a delightful smile at him. She didn't expect him to be such a lavishly romantic guy.

Kurapika never believed there would be a moment in his life where he temporarily forget about his people even for just a split second. But the moment is now. He is addicted to the satisfying feeling when he sees her smile. He is ecstatic and maybe he had gone insane.

"I'm glad you like it."

"Oh you shouldn't have." she carefully put the eye jars on the table and hugs him in cheerful manner ,"I really should get you a present too! Do you have anything in mind?"

"I just want to hold you close. That is all." He hugs her back before asking gloomily ,"Can I?"

"O-of course." it feels unnecessary to answer. Can't be more obvious she fail to resist him as he gently kisses her. He finally can embrace her. A bit too close this time. But she finally gets the chance to hold him closer as well.

* * *

Yes, I believe Kris Jenner works harder,but Kurapika works the hardest. I looove pop culture references.

Please click next for the Epilogue. Finally!


	10. Epilogue

**Epilogue**

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Kurapika stares at the front door of grand mansion in front of him. It is not a mandatory visit, but he is back to the country and desperate to learn how Neon has been. He gets a dry feeling in his gut as he presses the bell. Looking back, going in for the bodyguard test was so much more relaxing.

It has been years since they ended their relationship. He recalled admitting to Neon that he'd prefer a long journey of work than toning his lifestyle down to spend their time together.

At some point, he had to choose between investing his energy for his deceased families or relationship with Neon. Unfortunately, there were never any choice to begin with. If he choose the latter, the baggage would follow everywhere he go. He had to finish his duty and make the best decision for himself and her. It wasn't easy as he had lost sleep over the matter.

The most bittersweet feeling in his life would be when she sent back nine pairs of the eyes he gifted her. It was all over. She did not wish to see him ever again.

The eyes are the special gifts. Although he had gifted her other presents such as rings, necklaces, and other jewellery, he always consider the eyes as the gifts that represent his deepest desire. He always put aside plans to retrieve them back from Neon, suddenly he didn't need it anymore. He was free to collect the remaining eyes without the obligatory to gift them to Neon. Admittedly, it is not something Neon asked for, rather an obligatory he made himself due to his own selfish desire to get her attention.

Trying to see the positive side of his decision to choose work over a new life, he convinced himself that a new life would ask too much from him. He would be forced to be true about his identity in Neon's presence. He never wanted any kids too. On top of that, he couldn't imagine what would happen if the child that's being born carry his gene and suffer a living hell, being treated like commodity everywhere they go. The suffering of his people must end in him. It's a responsibility.

Conclusively, it is unfair to drag Neon along in his life. Their relationship ended now, it's for the sake of her safety. She is now undetectable and deserves peace.

Neon's got a long life ahead of her and their life is obviously on different directions. He's reminding himself to be rational and that their relationship was supposed to be transactional to begin with. He should let her go and let her live her best life without him.

With his departure to the dark continent years ago, their communication really ended. Things got back to how it was supposed to be.

But now, he still can't stomach the tension when he's waiting for the door to open. What would lie behind the door? What kind of life Neon has led without him? They are still married on paper, but he has no idea how she's been for years and vice versa.

He can hear some noises and cheery vague chattering. The mansions has been lively. He's thinking hard of the possibilities. Is that her friends coming over? Or someone else? She could had started another life with another man and he wouldn't have any idea. If it's true, what would he do then? Should he just leave the mansion without saying anything out of spite? Or if any other conditions force him to stay, should he introduce himself as her estranged husband? Or just husband?

Nothing surprises him more when a pair of living scarlet eyes welcomes him in a form of somewhat four to five years old boy, a female servant is standing beside him to open the door.

"Grandpa! Let's play golf now!"

"Huh?" The toddler paused, his eyes darken to light blue and exclaims ,"Ma, it's not grandpa!"

The approaching familiar figure freezes for a moment as if she just saw a ghost ,"Oh? it's _you_."

"Come on in, the mansion is still the same." Neon greets him in cheerful tone ,"What's with the sudden visit? I saw the news, the journey to dark continent has been a successful one."

"I am surprised to learn you are still alive. It has been years." she made attempts to start small talk as they sit in the the living room.

Neon still looks the same, so does the whole mansion. It's true he had missed her. But the hospitality is uncanny. Kurapika always thought their reunion would be nothing but peaceful. He quickly understands that Neon moved on bitterly from their separation by killing his existence in her life, clearly because there is no way he'd be dead when her family is operating as usual. He can hardly blame her since he did the same, drowning in work to numb his longing feeling.

"Is he your son?"

"My son? Yeah, definitely." she paused while running her finger through the boy's hair. The couple exchange glances before Neon continues in mocking sorrowful tone, bringing the topic they both have been itching to ask ,"As you see, when he's excited, his eyes would turn scarlet. I wonder who the father is?"

"I really hate to bring up the past. But why you couldn't tell me who you are? Is that why you worked here in the first place?" she cuts to the chase.

Kurapika stares in silence, dare not to look into Neon's eyes. He never expected that his cover would be discovered this way. The last thing he wanted to experience was her discovery of what a liar he is. But now it's happening right before his eyes. Paired with his worst fear coming true.

"Had I known you got close to me just to reach your goal, you might as well be my living collection."

Kurapika flinched at what he just heard. Neon's remarks is just the same as ever, ignorant and insensitive. It's even worse now since she is downright angry and discovered the truth.

But he is not mad, he can't even concentrate on their conversation. He steals glances to the blonde boy on her lap. He scrutinizes with wonder. The little boy totally looks like him with Neon's innocent blue eyes and signature hair mess.

In such bizzare time, he feels joyous. Too joyous to even get mad. He can't focus his eyes, his gaze follow the little boy when he jumps off Neon's lap to run around the room.

"Ma, who is our guest?"

"Be quiet! Mama is having conversation." Neon raises her voice to scolds the curious toddler before shifted her attention to Kurapika's silence ,"Are you listening?"

"I'm sorry, can we not talk here?" Kurapika snaps as he immediately feels bad for the poor toddler and realizes he has serious explaining to do.

Neon sighs under her breath and rises from her seat ,"Fine then."

Before Kurapika followed Neon through cold Nostrade mansion halls to Neon's room, he locked eyes with the blue-eyed blonde boy. Wishing he would get a chance to take a closer look at him later.

"How come you had him without telling me?"

"You were the one to told me that family life doesn't suit you. So I had him without telling you."

"You didn't tell me anything about it. If I know I would come back sooner."

"Would you?" her voice changed ,"I thought we were at least on the same page about honesty. If you told me who you really are, I would've told you."

Neon continues ,"We don't need to waste our time with a liar. There was no need to fake your love back then. I should've known why you were so excited to get the eyes for me. The gifts were never meant to be mine. If you just wanted power you could've taken it without involving me."

"I was a fool for wanting to know you better." Neon shakes her head weakly, prompting Kurapika's indignation. He refuses to believe their relationship had to be come this way. What she accused of him was not wrong. It is true that at the beginning, he was in for the resources. But he wanted her too. He wanted it all. Can't he be selfish and wanting everything about her?

"I am a liar and I used you for my goals, but I wasn't faking my feelings. I always love you!" He responds ,"You are free to believe me or not. It was my fault. But I have been gifting the eyes to you, letting you keep them when I shouldn't. I might as well be your living collection." he repeats her threat as he grabs her shoulder. Stating with furiously desperate tone ,"Hell, I already am. I'm yours."

"You're hurting me." she brushes his grasp away from her shoulder, "Your son is now four years old and I'm not sure if I should send him to school later for various reasons."

"You can co-parent him with me here or stay away from us. Or take him away if you wish. Consider him as a gift from me."

Kurapika shivered when he hears such cold statement from her. She has been angry at him all these years, bearing resentment to him and their poor son. An ironic state of mind he could relate to.

"Are you mad?" Neon asks in monotonous tone. Stepping closer to face his direction, making sure he understands her anger is not based on his deception alone ,"I am mad, because I love you too."

"I'm glad it's worth it." She goes on with softer tone while staring deeply to his brown-contact covered scarlet eyes ,"Because now I can finally see them..."

"The true colour of your eyes."

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**End**

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A/U Notes(Beware, very long one but I'd be happy if you read them!) :

:DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD

Sorry I'm not sorry I just have to give them this ending... I do apologize if this is considered a downer ending. I hope you guys still enjoy the last two chapters. Kuraneo is such a sweet ship yet they have grosteque-mood and I'd like to keep it that way in this AU. This fic is basically an extended headcanon based on some theories I found on reddit.

Thank you so much for following this fic and enjoy a ride of our favorite ship together despite every limitations! You are the best! I can't believe it's been four months.

In January 2020 I spared my time to catch up with HxH. It really surprised me after I read the manga carefully, Kurapika was given the title of 'young boss/underboss' in Nostrade family. Whoever has seen the Godfather and read Cosa Nostra Wikipedia page would know that the title is usually given to a son. He could've been given the title 'consigliere'', but he didn't. That gave me a headcanon : "What if he is a Nostrade? now?" :DDDD. I am not surprised since a man marries into a girl's family is kind of traditional norm in Japan (Reference : **mukoyōshi** (婿養子) Google it guys, let's scream together for this headcanon ;D). Togashi loves to add traditions in his story and he has approved Kuraneo in the mobile game. My god I am convinced they are canon.

Of course it wasn't long before we got twists here and there. Neon's power dissapearance from Chrollo's book, Kurapika referring himself not having the place to go home anymore. He seems to have so much authority to access Nostrade family resources without having a friendly term with them. That actually makes sense. I don't think anyone marrying into Nostrade family will ever get their emotional needs fulfilled. Nostrade is never the traditional happy family. Neon is emotionally detached and Light only cares about power. They are the opposite of Zoldyck. They only care about themselves and isn't Kurapika too? He missed Gon's recovery and does not seem to value his own life.

I thought if they do have something going on, then it really makes sense that they had a fall out prior the hunter election arc. I found an archived crazy fan-theory in reddit after seeing Kurapika's reaction to Wobble, stating that maybe he had a baby with Neon, for 'various reasons'. Some users actually agree since "grosteque is right-up Togashi's alley". And I actually agree, to some extent. Even if he is just using Neon, that's totally his character. He's never wishy washy about his decision but always contradicts himself. Kurapika started as this justice warrior before he slowly turns into a legitimate 'criminal' himself to attain his goal. He attacked Leorio's idea of money then do bribes like 200 chapters later.

Usually, I'm a big fan of High School/Vampire AUs fics and anything unrelated to the canon storyline, but I just couldn't resist writing an AU which is close to the canon storyline for this ship. They are so sick, it is really their charm for me. I hope to remaster this fic later if I ever have time, with slightly different storyline and slower pace, because sometimes I just couldn't wait to jump scenes. I am not a writer and english is my second language, don't hesitate if you spot any mistakes and send me corrected scripts. I am always open to suggestions. Meanwhile...

What is your interpretation of this ship? Which AU do you think suit them best? What is your headcanons? Why do you ship them? What do you think Neon's zodiac is? I think it's Leo. Reach me out twitter: cb_w_ / tumblr : ascentedaestheticmovie / deviantart : sysy_cbw. Don't be shy to drop me DMs, pleased to be your friend xoxo.


	11. Chapter 11

**Someone's Gotta Pay the Price**

The day was Saturday. Neon originally planned to stay home and rearrange her collections when Light Nostrade cancelled his promise to take his grandson playing golf. The kid was disappointed and furious, he demanded Neon to go with him instead. Neon comforted him then let him throw his toys to the wall while she escaped to her own room, leaving the maids to deal with him. She'd known that sooner or later, her son must learn Light's bad habit of lying or she would have to comply with his demand forever.

However, his tantrum still had not stopped until the dusk was near. Her son's attitude has turned similar to her own, even worse. He angrily knocked on Neon's door, insisting for her attention. The whole Nostrade mansion, even Neon herself started to developed headache. She never realised how frustrating her behaviour was, making her appreciate her ex attendants even more.

Eliza and the other girls got married months ago and the house is full of new unfamiliar maids. But she lives nearby with her husband and came over several times. Neon was really glad to hear the news of an unexpected guest. She was lighthearted again. Hoping it was Eliza, or at least, Light Nostrade who changed his mind.

**xxx**

Kurapika hates it when people mind his business, but was convinced to pay his visit anyway due to Basho and Melody's suggestion to put aside his ego and check on Neon. He knew the consequences of his decision and swore himself not to come back to beg for anything despite his feelings. He had anticipated that their reunion would not be smooth, but he did not expect it to be disastrous. The sound from their fight were leaking out of the room and one of the maids soon bring their confused son to his bedroom. Trying to entertain him by playing baby shark out loud of the smart TV.

Their inability to cope with the shocking situation had gotten their argument out of topic. "What makes you think you can just waltz in here out of the blue? Who can tell if you're not seeing anyone else all these time?"

Neon honestly didn't know whether she should be happy or not when she sees her estranged husband, the Nostrade family boss. Admittedly, she was happy, as any girl would be when their long lost love reappear. But his visit was too sudden and their situation was rather complex. Some unaswered question that resurfaced in her mind upset her.

"Ask Linsen or Basho or Melody or everyone else to confirm the nonsense never happened." Kurapika replied. Neon was so wrapped up in her old habit of throwing fit that he seized her hand when she was about to smash a bottle of perfume, saying she could hit him rather than doing anything dangerous.  
Both of them tumbled and the table lamp fell when she replied by shoving him to the end table with teary eyes.

Neon's tears rolled down her face to Kurapika's shirt. At such chaotic moment, her crying face is a strangely arousing sight for him. It doesn't help that her hands were wrapping his neck fiercely. He's flattered to learn she's been worried and jealous. Initially, he had pure intention to comfort her when he pulled her body closer. But he'd found himself losing all his willpower when she began kissing him to his ear while he's holding her, letting his fingers slip through her silky camisole.

The night had given them chance to satisfy each other without resolving their problem. It was addicting but only make things worse. Kurapika had never felt this frustrated of himself. The foolishness feels like déjà Vu. Just yesterday he met his son whose name he doesn't even acknowledge yet. He had planned to ask the child's name after his conversation with Neon. But he didn't, it was because he consciously decided to follow his impulse and spent the time making out and sleeping with Neon instead. What are chances they conceive another child before a single problem is solved? Maybe they already did. He's wondering if it's time to shoot himself in the head to regain sanity.

**xxx**

The mansion is quiet with solemn loneliness. Housemaids polishing silver and mable decorations diligently while the breakfast is already made in dining room. He still remember the bahroom, kitchen, living room. He calls one of the servant and ask the son's name in low voice.

The servant expresses no surprise at all, rumors say that young master and the bodyguards were kept in the dark from the news. He discovered that this exact rumor was what motivated Basho and Melody to convince him to go in order to check the fact. He also learns that Light Nostrade has been living in different mansion to get closer with his girlfriends, but pays occasional visit every weekend. And according to Light's schedule, he will show up soon.

Kurapika had given some thoughts from their fight. There is no way he's leaving them or take the boy away from his mother. A child should be with his family. It just makes sense to him that even if Neon hates him, he will never leave their side.

"How have you been?" Light Nostrade greets with delight, showing no sign of concern or guilt.

"Father." Kurapika calls Light as he refers him in private. He had been estranged from Neon long ago, but he keeps constant communication with Light. They maintaned a professional business related in-law relationship ,"Did you know nothing about me and Neon's son?"

"The boy? Oh, isn't he adorable? Every time I see my grandson, he always reminds me of you."

"Was there a good reason not to get me informed about the his birth?" Kurapika asks in polite but angry tone. They both schedules business meetings every month but he never mentioned anything about it.

"Well... I decided it would be best if I didn't come between you and Neon. She didn't want to see you anymore and you chose work." Light implies that he preferred their separation for the sake of improving family affluence, as if they weren't affluent enough at the first place. The greediness shown almost got Kurapika angry before the old man

Light glances at Kurapika, whose expression does not show any satisfaction to his excuse ,"Look Kurapika, even as her father, I rarely talk to Neon. Ever since she couldn't turn back to normal, we barely had anything to do. We just talked about your son."

"There is nothing wrong with Neon." Kurapika defends.

"Lovers do quarrel and I didn't see anything wrong with it." Light chooses to respond in similar manner while filling his plate from bacon platter on the table. He were happy his children fell in love and got married. He thought they were a lovely pair, but never cared enough about their romantic involvement and dramas. All he knew was they were doting each other before ending their relationship abruptly.

"We are both men of ambitions. Some people often have more than one thing in mind. Whatever your ambition was, in the end we all get what we want. Isn't that a great thing? We are a family so we should put the troubles past us." he adds.

**xxx**

Light Nostrade has been off to play catch with his grandson. He personally feels his physique is too old to catch up with the speed, yet that doesn't stop him from spending his time as a proud grandfather. They are running and shouting loudly on the other side of the garden where Kurapika is, but the trees are too tall and place is too big for him to hear the echoes of their laugh.

The morning just started but it feels hours already. Kurapika actually wanted to resume his plan but he had let Light to occupy their time out of respect. He decides to wander around the garden, having nothing to do.

"How are you doing?" instead, he is surprised by another voice approaching him. Neon was looking for Light and her son when she found Kurapika instead.

"Fine, thanks." He was caught off guard that he inadvertently forgot to ask her back, breaking off their conversation.

The silence is filled with air of unavoidable awkwardness. He wondered if Neon already forgave him and forgot everything she said after the night they spent. His contemplation guilt-trip him. The decision to hid the truth and stay away from her life was mainly for her safety. Yet, her method in discovering the truth creates false perception that he had vile intentions : revenge, her money, and now, her body. But she spew her venom too, and they're good together.

"Are you looking for your father?" Kurapika tries to resume their conversation. Shunning his inner thoughts to avoid looking like a simple minded fool. Neon usually spends her time indoor, her appearance here only means one thing.

"Yeah. They usually play here."

"They went through the east wing earlier."

Neon got her direction but find it hard to leave the scene. She stood still, following her heart's wish.

"What are you up to here?" Neon breaks the ice in friendly manner. She hesitated at first but paid no mind later.

"Nothing." he says with a faint smile, glad that her reaction is up to his expectation ,"Just killing time."

"You get out of bed early today." Kurapika comments on her newfound habit.

"I've learnt to wake up earlier these days." Neon beams, amused that he notices niches about her.

There are another silence between them. Yet, it feels pleasant compared to the previous awkwardness. As they were standing still, the space between them is just right enough for her to initiate a kiss. And he could not resist kissing back.

"Why did you kiss me back? " she stops, still pulling collar on his shirt gently.

"I wanted to." he answer simply, and later filling silence by voicing his question ,"Do you still mean what you said yesterday?"

She furrows her eyebrow while clenching her palm harder. Once someone lied, it's really hard to respect them. She can make a list : Her father, Dalzolenne, others. And especially the man in front of him whom kept the truth away from her for years. Unfortunately, that's not her problem now.

"I'm still mad at you." Neon admits her weakness ,"But I miss you."

He wondered for a moment if that's a yes or a no. They kissed but he can't stop his undying curiosity ,"Do you really want me to stay away?" he asks, reffering to the statement she spurted before they spend the night passionately.

"Why does it matter now? You didn't care enough to tell me anything when we kissed back then."

Hearing her point of view confuses him. Did he have to explain everything? Why is there so much rule to physical activity? He have beaten up many guys and no man complained or mentioning any terms and condition. Such as : "Hey, you can only punch my nose if you're honest with me." He is processing the ridiculousness.

They are married, they were in love and that is enough reason for him to sleep with her. Was it because he got greedy and his jealousy to the spider guy got the best of him. Would that even make any difference? He cared for her and would've impressed her another way.

As selfish as it sounds, there is a certain comfort that the unnoticed trouble had secured his place in Neon's life while they're estranged. She gave him a son and isn't leading a new life with another man. And ultimately gives him a reason to stay with her. He is reminded that he's not here to have another dispute.

"It matters a lot. I want to stay here with you and our son, and I can't do so without your approval."

Neon looks confused. For a good reason, she was furious and still is. But she can't deny that everytime they kiss, everything soften. And his words give sentimental feeling.

"No..." she says ,"I want you to stay."

**xxx**

"Mama!" Their son calls to the familiar silhouette, still carrying a plastic ball. His sudden appearance makes the adults glad they stopped whatever they were doing before.

"Are you finished playing with grandpa?"

"Granpa said he needs a break." he pauses and glances at Kurapika ,"Why is our guest still here? Who is he?"

"Oh, welll. He is..." "Do you want to introduce yourself?"

He just widen his eyes. Not going to refuse but simply too nervous to continue the conversation.

"He is your papa." Neon quickly discloses.

The child clenches his eyebrow ,"No way. You are not my father."

Kurapika can hear his heart breaks into pieces receiving that answer, but deem it understandable nevertheless.

"Mama once told me papa is dead. Isn't that right ma?" the child continues as Neon gives Kurapika an 'oops' looks ,"Mama will not lie. Mama hates liars."

"Well.. apparently mama was wrong." Neon helps, undoing her mistake. She feels bad for the estranged father ,"Your papa is alive. Isn't that great?"

"Really?" the kid blinks his eyes curiously.

"He went on dangerous adventure. But he's home." she reassures him with a warm smile ,"Eveything's alright now."

"Now mama's got something to do. Be courteous and call him Papa. Do you understand?"

**xxx**

Neon has left Kurapika with their son alone. He had experiences of interacting with babies and children. Some are from his village neighbours, other is specifically Wobble. _If she were here now, they would be the same age_. He remembers her fondly.

Yet, the weight of unfulfilled responsiblity for years makes him nervous this time, as if he's facing a small adult.

"Papa." He mutters the word as if it's some peculiar word he never heard before. Unable to process the new information smoothly doesn't stop him in getting what he actually needs at the moment: a new playmate ,"Do you wanna play ball-catch with me?"

Surprisingly, the kid is very athletic. Kurapika originally thought that under Neon's care, his lifestyle would be rather sedentary.

"Is it fun going on adventure?" he asks when they've warmed up after several rounds of game.

"Of course. You get to see a lot of new places and meet a lot of people." Kurapika replies attentively ,"What do you think?"

"I wanna go on adventure too someday." radiant glances show in his eyes "When I grow up. I'll go hiking. I usually just play golf or go shopping."

"Do you like golf and shopping so much?"

"I like golf. But I just don't like accompanying mama's visit to the gallery or whatever it is she's collecting. Those things are scary and ugly." he explains, looking up to his father's direction ,"So shopping is better."

Kurapika is relieved to receive positive response from the child he's beginning to know. He can tell from the enthusiasm that his son haven't met any friend yet, so meeting new people pleases him. But the kid looks happy, accustomed to the life Nostrade family provided him.

"We can go hiking together later."

"Really?" he gasps ,"Will you bring mama along with us?"

Kurapika scoffs at the idea of Neon going hiking but answer optimistically ,"As long as she agree to our invitation."

**xxx**

Veal and vignarola is for dinner. Neon keeps an eye on her son, making sure he finished all the meal on his plate. This routine enables the 22 years old woman to consider herself as the mothering kind despite always keeping a servant near to specifically deal with the trouble.

"But youh also doesn't finishe your meal, Ma." he once complained, pointing to Neon's unfinished plate.

"Mama is an adult, you are growing up." Neon would reply dismissively.

She would only let him run back to play video games once he is finished. She'd stay awhile playing with her cellphone. It wasn't long before Kurapika joins her at the table. She gives him confused looks as if it's weird considering they're under the same roof now.

"Are you full already?" he asks the obvious.

"I don't like artichoke." she answers dismissively to the repeated remark ,"What about you? Why don't you eat?"

"You want to watch me eat too?" he suddenly asks, grabbing her full attention.

Neon puts down her phone before answering ,"Yeah."

"Sit down here."

Neon watches Kurapika thoroughly. The invitation to accompany him to eat feels so intimate. His hair, eyebrow, nose, lips, jaw. She reminds herself that she'd be a fool for simply just... forgetting everything. The issue is still in the back of her head after all. Yet, she can't resist her revived infatuation when she sees him again. And the burning scarlet eyes when they got it on, she just wish to repeat it again and again. _Is it a sin to be vain?_ she asks to herself.

"Say, Neon." Kurapika clears his throat.

"Yes?"

"Do you happen to be interested in... hiking?"

She quickly answers ,"Not at all. Why?"

Dissapointed but not surprised, he explains his last encounter and the promised proposal.

"But it's alright if you don't want to go. I could ask my friends to accompany us instead. Some of them might have free time lately." he reassures, slightly hoping Neon would change her mind. The recreation would give them time together as a family and a couple afterall.

Kurapika was referring to all his available friends including Gon, Basho, and Melody but only Leorio came to her mind. The last time she heard of Leorio was when he sent his best regards. That's before she dropped the class due to her lack of interest and they all continue living, busy with their own stuffs.

Neon must admit she is affected by the efforts Kurapika made in a day and her own responsibility moves her. Yet, she still doesn't like the idea of hiking which sounds exhausting.

"Hmm... I'll think about it but I can't promise anything."

**xxx**

One of the master bedrooms is quickly cleaned and redecorated in a span of a day. While another one, Neon's room, is merely being tidied up.

"Welcome to your room." Neon guides Kurapika to his room, which he never used before. Years ago, the key including the rights to use the room was enclosed on their wedding day. But he was rarely home, almost never. They would just spent their days in different cities, in different suites. For different objectives. And when he paid his sudden visit yesterday, he stayed in Neon's room.

"Thank you for helping me clear the misunderstanding." he carefully mentions her help.

"I owe you an apology for telling him you're dead. I thought you wouldn't come back, the journey took a very long time." she takes a breath and apologizes ,"I might have said another lie too."

"Another lie?"

"I guess I was just angry when I said something about letting you take our son. I'm glad you didn't take him away."

"I wouldn't take anything away from you Neon." Kurapika answers in disbelief and contentment, grateful that Neon doesn't make an innocent soul pay for her anger.

He grabs his chance speaking to the related topic, resuming their unfinished talk ,"I never wanted us to end."

"The moment we got married I knew we would have responsibility and expectations toward each other." "I didn't think much when I thought I could fulfill all that. I thought I was protecting you from harm by staying away."

He pauses before resuming his thought ,"Forgive me, I regret leaving but I still think I did the right thing."

Neon sighs to the fact that Kurapika apologised while still justifying his decision. But it's hard to object when Neon herself agree to it. And especially when he's being himself.

"I would've still supported you if I knew your identity sooner. You've done a lot for me and papa."

"I'm sorry, I had planned to tell you that. But your packages came earlier. And we've lost contact since then."

"Honestly, it was just difficult to tell you the truth." he concludes the complexity of his behavior.

She puts her hand on his chest, pushing him slowly as they tread the floor until they fall on the cold bed.

"I like you a lot." Neon caress his hair gently.

Her warm body on top of him and her sultry voice always provide an escape from their alleged truth, allowing them to trace back memories of the time they spent together.

"I like your eyes a lot" she repeats while admiring the changing color on Kurapika's eyes ,"You make me crazy."

"Why was it difficult to tell me?" she asks the obvious, just to hear the truth.

Kurapika had many reasons. He deemed it wasn't a crucial information for her, it would disturb their peace, it wasn't as simple as because she was a body collector alone, or because Nostrade family could support his goal. It was a lot of work. But he could tell those excuse aren't what she's looking for. They must face the truth.

"You are a body collector." he finally admits ,"Sometimes I wish you are not who you are."

"So you've always hate me then?" Neon reacts with sadness. She is ready to apologize for having a horrible interest and the hurtful things she said in her fit before Kurapika gives contradictive answer.

"No... I wanna be yours."

She shakes her head slowly ,"I don't understand..."

"I like you too much to care." he struggles to explain the feeling that defies all his logic ,"If you were a different person, it won't do it."

"You said you hated me for using you, I can't oppose to it. But I'd be delighted to become your living collection." Kurapika forces himself to have the audacity in recalling back horrible things Neon has said.

Neon is taken aback by her own words. For a moment she was in denial for saying such horrible stuffs. It was a harsh method but there is no better explanation. They had their flaws and deserved each other. Nothing compares to the love and anger they both shared and no one else can do it in their place.

"I'm sorry." she says, breaking her voice.

"Don't apologize. It wasn't your fault." Kurapika looks Neon in the eye, steeling himself to admits his mistake. He nervously hopes this moment won't break his own heart ,"It was mine."

"You're here now. I'm glad." she mutters before placing her lips on his, whom reciprocate the kiss deeply. They have been caught on a downward spiral of rebound and pray this would be the last time. Or maybe not. Who cares?

**xxx**

"So you're no longer mad at me." Kurapika makes sure one last time.

"No. Let's be together." Neon smiles slyly, touching his nose ,"I like you too much to pass up my chance."

"Why complicate stuffs? You had me when you despised me." she adds while admiring his bright scarlet eyes. Lying on her hand, she whispers playfully ,"We're good now. Let's not be emotional."

"I love you Neon, that's why you should give me serious answer. Or everytime we do this, I won't be at peace." he speaks in serious tone, admitting his losing game.

"Oh Kurapika." she reacts in tender tone ,"I love you too. Of course I'm serious."

"But I thought you didn't want kids. Are you changing your mind?" leaning closer, she reminds him.

"Forget everything I said." he tucked Neon's messy hair behind her ear ,"I wanna have babies with you."

"Did I hear that right?" She flustered at his directness.

"Why should I believe you? I thought you hated body collectors."

"You know it never stopped me before." he answers ,"In fact it excites me more than ever." He hopes his soul can still be saved for indulging on the idea of having another child with her and be there to see it. Love amuses a part of him for thinking that for all the trouble, it's only fair that she give herself to him.

**xxx**

**A/N :**

I lurked in the neighbouring site... dying for an update. Keep smashing that refresh button and still no new content so I write my own while waiting... I know this fic is supposed to end, but this is a fiction based on fiction, so we can do whatever we want. Also RIP Format.

This additional chapter is still based on the same reddit foreshadowing theory. I wasn't sure how to continue the story if Neon find out Kurapika's identity IF he wasn't being honest with her and she found out another way (Hope canon storyline doesn't go that way n he just tell her instead). Someone's gotta pay for their conveniences :D and I guess that's a part of the theory I never want to acknowledge. Thankfully, lurking around in _Diary of Wimpy Kid_ fanfics gave me the courage to write.

**My interpretations & headcanons of K+N & Credits & Notes :**

(Warning : Just because I write it doesn't mean you have to agree. My opinion below strongly follows the canon storyline. We don't need any reason to ship anything but considering their rocky start, it's fun to analyze what happen. Still, I enjoy many different interpretations. _Especially when Neon is portrayed as deviant lol_. My favorites are _The Forbidden, Marriage: Mission Impossible!_, and _Stars and Kurapika Flairs Celebration Collection_)

Honestly after my last note, I gave it another thought and I couldn't possibly see another explanation of why he could be a Nostrade family boss. If anyone asks me, I refuse to ignore the implication Togashi gave and I'd say they're canon 100% lol.

Based on the theory, then their relationship was initially built on physical attraction & familiarity. Kurapika had a very strong prejudice against flesh collectors : stating they are scums and has disgusting taste. Only upon seeing Neon, he changed his mind. His prejudice still remains, it was stated when Melody rephrase his mind : "If I have to kill her, so be it." Yet, he still completely changed his plan. Because what is better than arresting/killing Neon? That would be marrying her through son-in-law adoption. If anyone asks me why don't they just adopt Kurapika without the marriage... Well I dunno, better ask mafias and Japanese because they clearly like to keep it in the family, I'm just reading my references.

This only means he likes her enough to marry/sleep with her but still barred from prejudice to consider her as his friend. (Even this is debatable, because even if the son-in-law theory is right, the baby foreshadowing theory could be wrong : Kurapika simply could be a private person and given that his clan was living in hidden presence, it's only normal if he want to hide Neon's presence too. Also _"Traditionally, part of the Mafia code is to keep the wives and mothers out of the loop of confidences for their own safety_")

As for Neon, I base her character from aspoonofsugar's Neon Nostrade's character meta post in tumblr. The post inspired me to began this fic with them having mutual attraction, but it was Kurapika whom made the first move. Simply because Neon prefers not to be involved with people and I never ever once see a scene where Neon is implied to have crush on Kurapika. She had fluttering heart moment for Chrollo instead and I guess that's because Chrollo is one of the people whom has shown genuine emotions in front of her, just like Eliza about Squalla. She is clingy to her material possessions but not to people, as implied in her reaction to Dalzollene's death.

We're told the story from Kurapika's point of view, therefore it's very easy to antagonize Neon like majority of her haters. But given Neon's appreciation to honesty and genuine emotions, who is at fault here? Kurapika just appears in her life, planning to use her and her family for his ends. He is just another Chrollo and Light Nostrade. (IRONICALLY This is why I ship them, their very unique relationship. The other reason is simply they look good. But they do need each other for provision and protection, so props for Kurapika lmao)

And if this theory is true, Neon also likes him enough to marry/sleep with him but not enough to get involved in his life. (Or is she? Sometimes I have to remind myself HxH can't be seen through normal perspective because no hunter is fit for normal family life. So maybe Neon's dismissive attitude makes her the perfect one for him)

OR...they are in loving relationship off-screen. I'd say this is a very high probability because Neon's design is strongly based on Princess Luna from Level E, where she is a love interest to Prince Baka. The story take it lightly despite being "king x revolutionary" couple. And while I set this fic to be years after, my intention is just to explore what could go wrong and right with that theory. For the in-universe characters, black whale is only like a month of work CMIIW.

My gosh this is the hardest chapter to write because while from chapter 1-10 the challenge mainly was : "how to picture Kurapika as someone who is progressing from the head bodyguard to Nostrade family leader" to : "how to describe loving someone you're supposed to get angry with. And what conditions would make them repeat the action again and again. Also how they act as parents(?)"

The base in building their son's character is both Kurapika and Neon's headstrong personality in pursuing what they want (I swear everytime they go againts their elders' warning, serious shits just happen!). I don't give him a name because based on the story, he would be named in the similar pattern with Light and Neon. Honestly I am not a fan of "Shade" or "Spectral" or "X-Ray" or "Joule" or anything light-related terms. Or my vocab is just that limited so I couldn't come with a good name.

Anyway as always, whatevs happen we gotta have fun. Thanks for reading^_^!


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